I have to confess that it's a little scary trying to deal with a serious topic in a limited space (and you know me, it's hard for me to be serious at all!) But these two stories kind of juxtaposed (I don't even know if I'm using that word right) themselves in my thinking over the last 24 hours, and I think I need to say something about them. 

One of my friends on facebook posted the story yesterday about Jennifer Knapp, Christian rock singer, who has just revealed that she is in a same sex relationship.  She realizes there will be repercussions among her fans, but needs to be honest with who she is.  Then in today's Arizona Republic is the story about this months gay pride festival, the 30th anniversary of the event here in Phoenix.  And as I sit here and think about what my response as a Jesus follower should be, I wonder if you're having the same internal struggle between what my old nature pushes me toward and what I believe about Jesus and the grace of God. 

Now I don't know Jennifer Knapp, but I do know that she's expecting the Christians around her to respond with moral outrage and to quote what she calls the "clobber verses" about homosexual behavior in the Bible...I guess that's how we're perceived as using those verses, to clobber people with.  And I have to confess to some clobber mentality in my mind. 

But thankfully there's also another thought that comes alongside that, and it's only there I'm sure because of God transforming my heart to be like his (and I'm still a long way from the full reality of that).  That thought has to do with mercy and grace.  Mercy is not getting what we do deserve and grace is getting what we don't deserve. That's what God has done for us in Jesus, and I think it's probably the way he'd like us to respond to those in our world as well. 

We've been looking lately at the Ten Commandments at Oasis and have said that God gave us these as fences to keep us from behavior and choices that would lead to brokenness and pain in our lives, while pointing to how we were made in his image.  Adultery. lying. stealing, murder...homosexuality...all of these lead to emotional and relational destruction.

But far from making me homophobic, that realization should lead me to be homo-compassionate, like it should adulterer-compassionate, or cheater-compassionate.  For one, when it comes to God's love and acceptance, I am simply one beggar among everyone, all of us on the same level, none of us deserving more consideration than another.  I am no different than the gay person--same problem (wanting to run my own life), different expressions. God's acceptance is not of works, that's what keeps us from judging others for their mistakes.  And secondly, as a child of God, wanting to see people as Jesus sees them, shouldn't our Jesus follower response be sadness for the person who has been deceived by the enemy, no matter what his or her failings are, and compassion, caring, love and acceptance for them.  

We say this all the time around here--Jesus was known as a friend of sinners. He wasn't very discriminating about who he hung around with--cheaters, prostitutes, betrayers, and I'm sure there must have been some gay people too.  And he hung around with them because he loved them and was saddened by the effects of sin on their lives.  Our lives. That's why it says he came to bring freedom to the captives, release to the prisoners, sight to the blind, healing to the brokenhearted.  Like Max Lucado says, he loves us just the way we are, but too much to leave us that way. 

I'm not sure how coherent all of that is, there's so much I want to squeeze into this short space.  When we've gone through difficult things in our past, so many of you responded so gracefully, saying "hey, we're no different, there but for the grace of God go us!" That's seeing people with grace-healed eyes.  Those are the kinds of eyes I'd like to have.

I walked in on a telephone conversation Annie was having with a friend yesterday and "accidentally" for the next five minutes...okay, I was blatantly eavesdropping but only because I was so intrigued by what she was saying.  I didn't know who the conversation was with (okay, "with whom she was having a conversation"--I can do good grammar if I want to!)  and thought it might be a little rude to ask her to put it on speaker phone, so I basically found a few things I "had" to do in her proximity.  I don't care who you are, that's just good parenting right there!

From her end of the conversation, she was telling the person on the other end that it didn't matter what he/she had done, we all make mistakes, she wasn't going to judge her/him because of his/her behavior, that she loved her/him and she would always love her/him.  And as I listened in I was struck by how beautifully I had just witnessed someone express the grace and acceptance of God. 

It's so much easier to stand in judgment of people for what they do and how they act.  Instead of loving them, instead of being friends of sinners, instead of recognizing that the playing field before God is a level one, we're all beggars telling other beggars where to find bread.  Easier than expressing grace, mercy, love, acceptance for the hims/hers of our lives.  The kind of love, grace, mercy acceptance Jesus shows to we/us/you/hims/hers/thems.

I'd like to say that Annie caught it from me, but just recently, in another situation with one of my kids, saw an uglier side of my character as I was less than accepting of some they/thems he/she was hanging out with.  This being friends of sinners seems easy in theory, but it's much harder in practice.

So I want to thank my kids for reminding me of God's grace, of how we need to be "arms open" people when it comes to the hims/hers/they/thems/youns (for all you western PA people out there)/us's of the world...the whoevers.