[glad to hear from us... whenever]

God is glad to hear from us, wherever and whenever. Jeff Chu tells this story:

On my flight home after meeting with Bryan, I try to find a word to describe what he is seeking from God. I'm reminded of an anecdote Lupe shared: "Let's say there's a woman and she's a prostitute. At night, she falls into bed exhausted. As she goes to sleep, she cries, 'God, help me!' She wants to be helped. But then she gets up the next morning, she prays, she gets ready for work, and she goes to turn tricks. At the end of her day, she says again, 'God, help me!' What is that? Is that a woman who loves God and is crying out? Is that a woman who God is not going to reach out to until she stops sinning?"

In a soft maternal voice she answered her own question. "After years of listening to people's stories, I tend to think God knows she's trapped. He loves her," she said. "He's glad to hear from her. Whenever."

Lupe then questioned the premise of her question. So which woman is it--the desperate one who is truly seeking God's aid, or the forsaken one who needs to turn to face God before He'll face her? Maybe it's not one or the other. Maybe it's both. Maybe God will meet a prostitute--or a gay man or anyone--wherever he or she is, just as Jesus met the adulterous Samaritan woman at the well before she stopped sinning.

From Does Jesus Really Love Me? A Gay Christian's Pilgrimage in Search of God in America by Jeff Chu, page 125.  http://doesjesusreallyloveme.com/

excommunicated

Are there similar grounds for excommunicating you?

cruci-fix

Having problems with too many undesirable people coming to your church?

Here's a great solution:

If you haven't heard, there's been some controversy over "anti-homeless spikes" appearing in various places -- outside a record store in London England, in an apartment entry in Montreal, and more. While supposedly intended to stop loitering or to reduce anti-social behaviour, they result in reducing the places where homeless people can find "shelter" at night.

After some outcry, including the mayor of Montreal insisting they be removed as that is not the image he wants for Montreal, most spikes were removed. The bigger question, asked by Matthew Pearce of Montreal's Old Brewery Mission, is: what is really going to be done for the homeless? Do we just want to look like we're not mean to the homeless, or are we going to do something positive and effective?

But seriously, what I'm asking here is: in what ways are the behaviours and attitudes of Christians functioning like the spikes? Functioning in such a way that when people see a building with a cross on it, they feel unwelcome, unwanted, judged and rejected?

[wwjb?]

what would jesus bake? and who would jesus bake for?

Forcing a Christian to bake a cake for a gay wedding is like forcing an African-American to bake a cake for the KKK.

Richard Land, Evangelical Pastor

I’d rather go to jail than make a cake for a gay wedding.

Jack Phillips, Christian Baker

If someone compels you to bake a cake for them, bake them two cakes.

Jesus, servant to all

Matthew 5:38-42, paraphrased for our time and culture.

p.s.
And you'd better make sure they are good cakes too!

rob g

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On a related note, Tony Campolo tells this story about throwing a birthday party for a prostitute:

Read Tony's story about the birthday party for a prostitute.

If video is not embedded, click here to watch it on YouTube.

why god doesn't go to church

Instead, God is in the thin places, the liminal places, the margins, the bars and bath houses, the back alleys, the streets of the city....



p.s. thanks c.r. for leaving room for god.