“Jesus Hearts Gays,” part two

How many of us come to Jesus with all our issues resolved?

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been following Christ for years and years and I STILL have sin in my life that I haven’t “gotten over” yet. Is it serious? Yes. Is it a big deal? Yes. Does it keep me from loving Jesus and working in ministry? No. It doesn’t keep me from church, from participating in the “body of Christ” … the flawed and messed up but sincere group of people who have been knocked over by grace.

I don’t know about you, but I need to be in church, not just want to be. Sure, I love to serve and worship and grow, but it’s deeper than that … I need to be there because I haven’t gotten it all figured out yet. I still need grace and mercy and renewal every day while I try to figure this thing out.

So isn’t that true of others? Shouldn’t all sinners be in church where they can encounter grace and mercy and renewal as they try to figure life out?
Why then do some things keep people out entirely? Like being gay. We so often want them to have things all worked out before they can come and be one of us and experience grace, mercy and renewal.

Who else should we be excluding? People who struggle with porn? People who get angry too much? Where’s the line? Where should we send these people to meet God? What timeline should we give them for having all their issues worked out?

I’ve been mulling over Matthew 9, and other passages where Jesus hangs out with those his “church” rejected. How did Jesus expect us to continue his work? What was his vision for changing hearts and letting people know they matter to God?

And on the subject of community, here’s a quote from Gerald May: “One of the powers of faith community is its capacity to provide a lasting steadiness through all the wavering of its individual members. When I cannot pray, the prayer of countless others goes on. Where I am complacent, others are struggling. Where I am in conflict, others are at peace. Most important, when I cannot act in loving ways, there are those in my communities who can.”

“Jesus Hearts Gays”

A friend of mine loves gay men … most of the gay men she’s met are sweet and funny and she’s drawn to them. She someday hopes to establish a ministry that reaches out to and gets to know and shows love to gay people.

Can I just say that’s so Jesus to me?

So my friend and I were talking about gay guys and she asked, how can we say it’s wrong in such a loving way that we won’t anger or crush them? (Referring to church, not individual conversations.) And you know, I think the answer is we don’t. We don’t say anything.

Instead, I think we try something new … befriending those who are different from us, getting to know them and loving them as individuals important to God. We’ve tried all sorts of talk. Let’s now try some quiet love in action.

It reminds me of the story about when the local church leaders (the pastors and elders and deacons) noticed this new preacher in town who, instead of “preaching the Bible” about homosexuality, showed up at parties thrown by gay guys. He went out dinner with them and generally acted like their friend instead of their judge. Somehow I don’t think he worked “you know, homosexuality is wrong” into his conversations at the dinner parties. Obviously, the rest of the pastors were upset by this “hippie love” behavior and called the pastor on it.

He said a crazy thing. I mean, this guy was out there. He said, “Go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices (Hosea 6:6).’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who are sinners.” That’s from Matthew 9:13 and I gotta say, most of us church people are not Jesus in this story. We’re the Pharisees, slightly scandalized and helpless when see peeps ministering in real love to those we consider too far outside the grace of God.