There's More to Us than THAT

I LOVE Hip-Hop. The radio stuff, the booty stuff, I love it all. (I'm done with Kanye, though. How many times can you screw a voice a not be called a poser. It was cool at first, but holy cow.) I mostly listen to something called Conscious Rap. These are people who combine their passion for justice with rhyming. Such artists speak to my heart that aches for equality and justice in this world with my love of a beat that moves me. Talib Kweli is one of those artists. He has a song called "Drugs, Basketball, and Rap." The song describes the stereotypes of young black males and alerts people to the actual depth of those who are easily disregarded because of their big t-shirts or where they grew up. It connects people with the history deep in the story of Africa and asks that people expect more out of life that getting rich quick. If more people would seek out GOOD music, they might learn about another group of people in an authentic way. (The same argument could be made about Country music, easily. The stuff on the radio is generally terrible.)

All that being said, I've been thinking about this song in the context of my faith and my vocation as a pastor. Yesterday on Oprah's Best Life Week (yep, that's what I said) Rev.Ed Bacon described being gay as a gift from God. Oprah's response was that he was the first pastor to say that she ever heard. It made my heart break. Not all pastors believe that something is wrong with those in the GLBT community. In fact, there are many pastors, like Bacon and myself, that believe being gay is indeed a gift from God. I would say, however, that our sexuality is a gift from God whether you are gay, straight, or bi. God made us the way we are, and so many Christians have retreated from that, or allowed only certain people to celebrate who they are. At one point in our American Christian history, blacks were considered less that fully human. People with disabilities were considered less than fully human. Single people were considered less than fully human. (Many people still think this, considering our overt pressure on young people to get married at all costs. But, that is another post.)

There are many conservative and moderate Christians who will gladly judge me and my opinion. Overwhelmingly, they will quote Deuteronomy and Paul and give reasons why those outside the tradition are going straight to hell along with me for supporting them. My belief is that above all, God is love. And, those moments in our lives where we find the joy of love, real love that doesn't manipulate or abuse or ask us to be untrue to ourselves, those are surely ordained by God. That is what I feel with my husband. How could I deny that deep joy to someone else? God sent Christ to continue to teach us how to treat each other. Jesus loved and reached out and asked people to do the same.

My hope, even in presenting my own opinion, is that Christians can worship together however we feel individually about sexuality. That we can treat each other with love even when we don't understand or disagree. So, whoever you are, however you feel, we are all children of the God of grace. May our prayers echo in heaven together.