Wednesday, November 18, 2009

in which i refer to glee, church, gays, and love. and no, you don't need to brace yourselves. i think.

So I turned on the television and watched Glee. And meh, or not-so-meh, it was okay. Some of the singing is amazing, but really, the auto-tune is over.kill. The people are all very clean, and pretty, and even the bad boy with the poser mohawk is clean and pretty. So meh.

Obviously, I am going somewhere with this. Because I ALWAYS go somewhere with my intensely clever posts.

Der.

Pretty blonde cheerleader girly's parents found out she was knocked up. And being the good, happy, always chipper Christian family, cheerleader girly's daddy kicked her out of the house after saying kind words like, WHO ARE YOU, and I DON'T EVEN RECOGNIZE YOU, and walking away from her when she said she needed her daddy to hold her and tell her everything was going to be okay.

We have a little portion of our church service where we share our joys and also things we would like people to pray about. For example, one time when Auntie Teff was visiting, someone asked for prayer for a man who had been kicked by a cow for the second time, and she just about wet her pants laughing. You can never tell when those cows are going to go all rogue...just look at the former governor of Alaska. That cow went ALL KINDS OF ROGUE, and got a book deal.*

Mooooo-ving on. Yes, people, that is one smoooooth segue there.

So a guy stood up and said he would like prayer for a member of his family who "has decided to go and join the gay community" and he then went on and on about his views of homosexuality, and on and on... and on and on... and he said a number of things that were not really very nice.

My stomach was in a knot, because sitting right behind me were the parents of one of our openly gay church members. Every comment about "the gays" felt like the stab of a knife, and he wasn't even talking about my child. I can't even imagine how it would have felt to listen to him talk if my child was one of "the gays". I was hurt when that stupid old man said my kids were bad last weekend. And that stupid old man wasn't slamming my kids, he was attacking my parenting. I can't imagine how it would feel to listen to someone bash my child.

The gold star goes to me, for making this about me!!!

It is so incredibly frustrating to be around people who claim to love the God who teaches that we should love our neighbors, and with their next breath preach rejection to people who are different from them. I am reading a book by Philip Yancey called What's So Amazing About Grace?, and one of the chapters is about his relationship with a friend who is gay. It's actually about way more, and way deeper points and ideas and stuff, but just try to stick with me on this one. Some Christian media outlet is interviewing the friend's mother, and asks her a question (totally paraphrasing here): You're a Christian, don't you find your son to be an abomination? She replied, He might be an abomination, but he's still our pride and joy.

We all are some sort of abomination, yet each of us is someone's pride and joy. Everyone has some sort of failure going on in their lives, and I'd wager that more often than not? We all suck in way more ways than we're willing to let on. I'm not sure when the free passes to overlook our own abominationosity were handed out, but there's a certain group who received too many.

If we did nothing but treat every person as a person of great value, this world would be a completely different place. Each of us is important. Each of us has worth. Each of us is someone's pride and joy. Never forget that, not even for a second. Act and speak accordingly.**

*In light of my own position in this post, I apologize for mocking the former governor of Alaska. I'm sure she's someone's pride and joy.

**You know I love a healthy debate, but so help me, if any of you are rude, I will delete your asses and close the comments so fast your heads will spin. Even if you are someone's pride and joy.

20 comments:

  1. ah... truth. you speak it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I come out of hiding to tell you that I immensely enjoy your point of view on both treating people nicely and also glee.

    ReplyDelete
  3. If I were one of The Gays, I would come and try to steal you away from The Mister.

    I would even watch Glee with you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo great, Pamela.

    Hatred of gay people, and even the milder 'intolerance,' is something I just don't get. Can't compute or comprehend, so kudos to you for handling this with the grace that I wouldn't have been able to.

    You're really something else, and that something else is GOOD.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I just don't get why some people choose to spend so much of their energy on hate. It makes no sense to me.

    Well Said, Pamela. And I loves me a good Palin joke.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Consider this: Had S. Palin NOT gone rogue, she might well be Veep right now. So thank the good Lord for that. And I would have had a very hard time not standing up in church and asking for prayers for people who say they follow Christ, yet show hatred for God's children, right in the church! And as I would be pissed at that guy, I would be including myself in that group.

    ReplyDelete
  7. You are sooo right! Everyone IS someone's pride and joy and should be treated as nothing less. It doesn't matter who you are or what you do. God loves everyone and I do not think he finds it very pleasing to hurt others in any shape form or fashion!

    ReplyDelete
  8. It's okay to be pissed off at someone who is openly making a mockery of the very faith they presume to profess. Good example of someone ceasing to think because they have faith.

    I thought the basic message was supposed to be love your fellow humans...unconditionally.

    Great post, Pamela.

    ReplyDelete
  9. OK, I'm going way out of my comfort zone here but I would like to make a comment. First, I didn't hear everthing the man said because I was dealing with little kids but I may be able to understand where he was coming from. The Bible lists all kinds of sin and homosexually is among them. It also says we all sin and fall short of the Glory of the Lord. When I discover that one of my pride and joys sinned I feel sadness and wish they hadn't. If the sin continues I would pray for them and still love them but I would have disappointment. I would still love them but not condone the sin. I don't know if I'm making any sense and I don't know what exactly is in the man's head but I think he was expressing his disappointment.

    Oh and P.S. I like Sarah Palin. Leave her alone. :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Personally, I would have gone rogue at that dude in church. I have some strong emotions and opinions about "the gays". The day I feel safe enough to sit in judgement of someone else's life? Well, I hope you will fly down here and slap the shit out of me.

    I'm afraid to tell you I bought the book. Oh wait, I just did. :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. my mil just was telling me a story about how her church is losing members because such and such took a stance on the ability to have gay clergy ... or something like that ... forgive me ... it's my mil ... i don't always listen fully.
    but ... i just couldn't believe it ... i mean, really? isn't it about being caring for people ... ?? argh. just another one of those things that makes religion a really hard issue for me.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I understand and agree so much. And in defense of Glee (LOL) I think you'd really have to watch it all starting with the first episode. And/or have been in glee club in highschool. :)

    Steph

    ReplyDelete
  13. I so seriously love you. And if I were gay? I would not go for the skinny chicks. As a matter of principle. And that has nothing to do with anything. Just something I occasionally think about.

    ReplyDelete
  14. This is really poignant.

    And the part about Palin. I heart you. I don't know you but I heart.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I think as soon as I heard; "prayer for a member of his family who 'has decided to go and join the gay community' my response would have had to have been; "Oh, so you'd like a prayer that your family member will find love and happiness in his/her life and that they will not be subjected to hatred and discrimination? Yes, let us pray for that by all means."

    ReplyDelete
  16. Awesome. If every person at church stood up to list their children's ongoing sins, there would never be a sermon, or nice hymns, or PRAISE TO GOD even. That is what OPRAH and FAMILY THERAPISTS are for. Well, Oprah's show is coming to an end. Jerry Springer is big into transparency and closet digging. Is he still on? But seriously, you can express concern and ask for prayer for family situations that are causing you pain without stabbing other people in the heart with the plank sticking out of your eye.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thanks for the big girl pill.. I needed that...

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hi. Just found my way over here from sardinesinacan. I addressed some similar stuff here in our church this summer. My take? Ridiculous. Don't understand why this should even be an issue. It truly believe God is for co-operation and acceptance between ALL people in this thing we call life. You'd think we'd learn from history to quit trying to create a "they". Thanks for posting.

    ReplyDelete

talk to me, people. because you know i get all giddy when you do.