Saturday, April 3, 2010

Say What?

If you're reading this, I'm surprised. I go so long between blog posts that I figure I probably lose what few readers I have. Anyway, I'm back. Thanks to those of you who've requested I write and who have questioned where I've been. I appreciate that.

I want to share a story that was shared with me recently.

This young couple who are in the ministry and have a position with a church moved to a new community and proceeded to meet their neighbors. One of their neighbors was a gay couple of men. The ministry couple visited with them and they became friends. They shared meals and visits and enjoyed each other's company.

The subject of their professions didn't come up for a long time.

When it did, the young couple declined revealing what they did for a living. It became a push-and-pull fun discussion. The young man said he couldn't tell them what he did, he just couldn't. They thought that was odd and kept pushing. The young man replied that he was pretty sure they wouldn't like him when they learned what he did, so he preferred not telling them.

Once a promise was extracted that no matter what the young man did, the gay couple would remain the young couple's friends. With that promise sealed, the young man revealed that he was a youth minister in a church.

Shock, shock! Unbelief!! How could such a loving, accepting young couple be ministers in a church? Impossible. But, they were reminded of their promise.

Then extreme shock when the denomination was revealed. This just couldn't be. It was so out of the norm and so not what the gay couple had experienced from anyone with the name Christian, much less in the ministry.

Well, the "rest of the story" is that the four are still very good friends, and even though they've both moved to different locations, they still stay in touch.

I love this story. It's a true story. The ideal would be that this would be the norm. If Christians are to be known by the love they have for each other and for others, it would be.

I'm just sayin'. . .
MB

1 comment:

Marjory Brown said...

It's a hard battle when the norm has always been a deeply ingrained belief system that 'surely, God has hidden His face from people like that', and so have I! "Just As I Am" becomes just words when someone enters our life that is gay. Surely they will hear and see the Lord somewhere along the way, but not from me. I could never be caught loving on them!!! How sad! Can't see past our noses!! Loved this post.