An Open Letter to the Church from Lesbian Sister of Christ

In response to the debate going on in the USA Supreme court as well as the court of the public forum about homosexuality I want to re-post this post.

Reprinted from Original post by Hunter Baker

Please Read the whole letter to Understand

To the churches concerning homosexuals and lesbians:

Many of you believe that we do not exist within your walls, your schools, your neighborhoods. You believe that we are few and easily recognized. I tell you we are many. We are your teachers, doctors, accountants, high school athletes. We are all colors, shapes, sizes. We are single, married, mothers, fathers. We are your sons, your daughters, your nieces, your nephews, your grandchildren. We are in your Sunday School classes, pews, choirs, and pulpits. You choose not to see us out of ignorance or because it might upset your congregation. We ARE your congregation. We enter your doors weekly seeking guidance and some glimmer of hope that we can change. Like you, we have invited Jesus into our hearts. Like you, we want to be all that Christ wants us to be. Like you, we pray daily for guidance. Like you, we often fail.

When the word “homosexual” is mentioned in the church, we hold our breaths and sit in fear. Most often this word is followed with condemnation, laughter, hatred, or jokes. Rarely do we hear any words of hope. At least we recognize our sin. Does the church as a whole see theirs? Do you see the sin of pride, that you are better than or more acceptable to Jesus than we are? Have you been Christ-like in your relationships with us? Would you meet us at the well, or restaurant, for a cup of water, or coffee? Would you touch us even if we showed signs of leprosy, or aids? Would you call us down from our trees, as Christ did Zacchaeus, and invite yourself to be our guest? Would you allow us to sit at your table and break bread? Can you love us unconditionally and support us as Christ works in our lives, as He works in yours, to help us all to overcome?

To those of you who would change the church to accept the gay community and its lifestyle: you give us no hope at all. To those of us who know God’s word and will not dilute it to fit our desires, we ask you to read John’s letter to the church in Pergamum. “I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality. Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Repent therefore!” You are willing to compromise the word of God to be politically correct. We are not deceived. If we accept your willingness to compromise, then we must also compromise. We must therefore accept your lying, your adultery, your lust, your idolatry, your addictions, YOUR sins. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

We do not ask for your acceptance of our sins any more than we accept yours. We simply ask for the same support, love, guidance, and most of all hope that is given to the rest of your congregation. We are your brothers and sisters in Christ. We are not what we shall be, but thank God, we are not what we were. Let us work together to see that we all arrive safely home.

A Sister in Christ

A Series of Confessions: The Dark Side of the Heart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioRrydp6FTI

I have come to realize, no come to accept and acknowledge that I am very much controlled by my emotions and the circumstances around me. I sometimes feel very emotional and those emotions, whether good or bad, control me; that is until I realize how ridiculous I am being.

This being said I have come to realize, accept, and/or acknowledge that this also effects my faith and daily walk with Him who created and saved me. I am very easily swayed or distracted from my personal walk. This actually causes a vicious cycle of life for me. I know my days are infinitely better if I am in communion with God and am fully relying on Him; If I am not in communion with Him, through prayer, scripture reading, and other spiritual disciplines, I end up becoming emotional, in a bad way. I become callused, hurt, depressed, angry, or some other emotion;,which leads me not to my knees but away from that and towards some destructive thing, or other and brings me back to the place I have left. The exact place I didn't want to return to. This starts the same emotions again. Then cycle starts over and over again but in a downward spiral pattern.

How sad it is. I will be on Fire for the Lord and slowly let it fade to almost nothing, then being kicked in the butt or smacked upside the head and change and to let the fire grow to a blaze again only to allow it to fade. It all starts with how much sleep and the quality of it, friends, stress, and other stuff taking priority over what really matters; it's quite sad actually.

And in those days where I feel like "God, Why do you love me? How Can You? I am so ugly, so dark, soon and so on... "

God Shines his light in my darkness and smiles on his child, "My child, my son. yes you have fallen, yes you still have to deal with your brokenness and your sin but i have forgiven you, washed you white as snow in my eyes for not only have i cleaned the slate for you i have thrown it out and its on the ocean floor forgotten."

Christians: Haters of All Mankind? Part 3

This is the last post in this series. And this one is a story, story about me, of all people, on my way to church Monday 1/2/12 for the bible study that started this whole series.
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I had just finished dinner and looked at the clock, it told me I had about 2.5 hours till the College and Career group meeting started and so I had about 2 hours give or take before i had to leave. this gave me a chance to change out of my pj's I was wearing all day, take a shower and maybe even read more of my current reading choice.

Time flew by as i accomplished all my goals. I grabbed my bible, my journal for notes, my current reading selection, coat and then proceed to check, keys, cell, i-pod, and we are good.

The drive was good, not too much traffic seeing it was the day after New Years and many people had off or took off because  *cough, cough* they were sick. so as I chug down Route 1 to church in my 2000 Ford Station wagon jamming to Needtobreathe on my i-pod I start thinking about the day,what the New Year holds and just how life is going to unfold.

"Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." is a small bit of truth from the good old movie Forrest Gump. Well, this is a bit of truth that i should live by because of what happened as I neared the church.

As i pulled up to the traffic light, waiting to cross the road to get to church. As I came to a complete stop I notice the man who had just crossed the street to the Right of my car. At first I didn't take to much attention to him because there is a convenience store on that corner as well as a bus stop and Train Station to my left.

But as I sat there waiting I noticed he was not moving fast, he had a cart and a crutch. Then I noticed why he was moving slow on this cold night and had a crutch his one foot was badly out of place. He was walking on a ankle and the side of the foot on one side.

My heart broke, and I wanted to offer him a ride to where he needed to go. Then fear crept in. I started debating back and forth about being on time, what if he has a knife, what about my stuff, WWJD, How am I going to be able to stop in the middle of a busy road, and its so cold out...

Then the light Turned green and I went to church. Still debating to myself I find a parking spot and go in. I realize I am really early due to the lack of traffic. We pray for the night and have our study.

During the study of God is love we have a group discussion on what is love? One guy points out we are to love the homeless, the orphan, the widow, etc. and my stomach swallows my heart and ties itself into knots. I know this I have done street ministry before, I care but when I feel safe.

I was wrong, I could have helped the man but I didn't, I am still working on my Love for Others as I am working on my Love for God. So I also need to practice what I teach, Love the lost even the ones you don't know.

Christians: Haters of All Mankind? Part 2

In the first post we looked at Love and what love is according to well the culture and the Bible. But I want to expand on what I said earlier about Judgement.

People always say, "Don't Judge ME! Don't attack me, my beliefs, thoughts, who I am!" because they do not like to be burned. No one like to put out themselves their true self out there only to be squashed by judgmental, sarcastic people. They do not like being judged because in reality they do not want to be condemned to be on the outside looking in, condemned to be a loser, a freak, or a weirdo, condemned to never belong, condemned to be who and what they are forever.

So the whole "Love me for what I am and don't try to change me" is just a defense mechanism, a way to say I am who I am and that is fine by me, and I don't care who or what I hurt being me. If they can't deal with it that's there problem.

Christians have been known ton be Judgmental and have probably added to the mess that has started this movement. As Christians we are told to Judge not or lest we be judged and we are also told to judge sin as sin.

Conflicting messages all around of if we, Christians, are to judge and if so what to judge.

The best way to look at this is to look at what Christ did when he was on earth:

One Passage is the woman caught in adultery. The woman caught in adulatory who, by the Jewish Law, was yo be stoned is brought in front f Jesus. Instead of giving the okay, Jesus says something to the crowd, or rather mob, eager to have justice. Jesus says "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." and the crowd leaves one by one starting with the older and wiser ones down to the young men till no one is left. Jesus says to he woman,  “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She answers, “No one, Lord.” Then Jesus says, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” Wow Reconciliation and Grace and no condemnation.

The Pharisees and Religious Leaders: Jesus always did this through the power of parables. Best one to look at is the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Everyone knows this story but the older son is suppose to represent the Religious Leaders. Go back and reread the Passage. Jesus through the story Judges the religious leaders to come and rejoice in the lost that was found and to stop laboring for the wrong reasons. Come Join the Family Feast.

US: God spent all of the time post Gen 3 to redeem and reconcile us with Him. Back to the Garden State, the way it is supposed to be. That is why Christ dame, why He healed, Lived as man, died, and rose again. For Reconciliation of mankind, marred by the sin of their own hands, back to their God.  Let me explain further in a Question, How Great is God that He not only Wipes the slate clean but throws it down to the Ocean Floor, Forgotten?

What did Christ Do he Judged them not to condemnation but to reconciliation... that's right Reconciliation!

As Christians, Little Christs, Children of God, Followers of Jesus, We are to Judge in Love to bring people to Reconciliation with God.

So Do Not Condemn, its not your Job or Place; Rather Go forth and Love and bring the lost back with you.

Christians: Haters of All Mankind? Part1

Monday January 2nd, 2012 I went to my church's College and Career Bible Study. We have been doing a verse by verse/topical study of 1 John; that night we looked at Love.

Love it is a very ambiguous term, especially in our culture we use it for a variety of things from our "love" of Starbucks, to the "love" a mother has for her newborn, to the "love" we have for the girl or guy on the dance floor. Love in our culture has become a word to describe anything from a shallow definition to a deep meaningful understanding. We also have a hard time to define love because we only have one word to describe multiple forms of love, whereas other languages and cultures have multiple words for love.

Christians are supposed to Love and are even told by Jesus to "Love your neighbor as yourself" and "Love God". Even non-Christians and nonreligious people remind Christians of that. "Hey didn't your god say 'Love' all the time?" And unfortunately they see Christians as "Haters of All Mankind," the same way the early church was called "Haters of All Mankind" and persecuted for that.

But why is that? Why are Christians, who are supposed to Love so against Love?

Christians are known for their hate, their bigotry, and their hypocrisy. Even some Christians see this and rebel and call out other Christians to Love.

So what Love does the world want from Christians? Most People want acceptance; they want you to accept them for who or what they are no matter what and don't even try to judge me. They spread the message of "You are perfect the way you are and don't need to change, no mater what" while also saying "if anyone tells you otherwise, they need to change."

Wait Hold on! They are sending two conflicting messages of what love is and what acceptance is.

So what do Christians mean when they talk about Love?

Christians talk about the Love of God, the Love that flows from God, because "God is Love". He Demonstrated his love that while we were still sinners Christ Died for us and because of that he not only wiped the slate clean but throws it to the ocean floor, forgotten. The love that he provided himself as the propitiation for our sins and took his own wrath upon himself.

So Christians are not against Love they have a whole passage on Love, the Famous "Love is patient Love is kind.." They also worship the God who stated the Greatest Commandment is to Love God, Love Others.

So its not that Christians are against love they are against any cheap imitation of true love, the love that flows from the Father.

A Series of Confessions: O me, O my...

This post is in a series of posts; to understand The Reason(s) for these posts please click the hyper link.


Well in spite of "not having anything to post at the moment" I will post something.: A reflection if you will and a prayer. I had finished reading a book two months ago called O me of little faith by Jason Boyett. Also, in chapel on my campus there was a great speaker/pastor. He had spoke on counting trials, pain, and our "thorn in the flesh" pure joy. These two sermons with the addition of the book have caused me to think again. To think about how we as Christians who grew up in the church could be so hypocritical, lukewarm, cynical, and outright doubtful of things. I am one of those Christians; I am a bit cynical; I have doubts at times; I struggle and fail. Yet dispute all of this I am still Loved by God, one of His children, and a Christian. I'll put it this way, I am a passive-aggressive rebellious child of God, who every once and a while needs a reminder of the fact of the matter is still a Christian. This is kinda one of the reasons I want a Tattoo, but until that day comes I have been writing on my wrists with pen: on the left it says "Forgiven" and on the right "Loved". This allows me to see them and be reminded constantly that I am Loved and Forgiven by God and I am his; especially during the "face-palm" situations I have. I need to remember that I am a sinner saved by grace or how my pastor put it today in church, "I am a recovering hypocrite." 


So in light of that last paragraph over this past school year I have noticed some trends in my life and here are some of the findings. I find that when I am in a routine, getting enough sleep, low stress, and so on I tend to be a better person. I tend to deal better with people, and not be fake. I hate being fake, it makes me feel like I am an actor playing this character rather than a human being, living and breathing outside of the theater. It takes Shakespeare's quote "All the worlds a stage, And all the men and women merely players:" to a whole new  level. I almost feel like the actor in me never turned off. I have also realized that when I don't get sleep and I am stressed, I don't spend time with God and if it is is mediocre at best. At this point I start  depressed, cynical, and for lack of any other term, "Blarg." I need the very friends I push away and shut myself in a dark place away from others. I then feel alone and unwanted and unloved; I start to compare myself to who I want to be or to others and become a shell or a ghost of who I am and who I want to be. 


I Deal with these feelings of depression, being unloved, alone, and unwanted even in a room full of friends or people I know. I am human, broken and afflicted living in a broken world and both it and I have been marred by sin. Yet there is Redemption and Reconciliation. I am not alone at all; I am not unwanted or unloved. For One can never be too high to not need salvation and love nor can one ever be too low to receive salvation and love.


Dear Father,


You are great and mighty, you have laid the foundations of the earth and are the "cosmic-glue" that holds everything together. You know my heart, my deeds, and my thoughts and yet you love me anyway. Thank you for that. Thank you for your Son and that he died but also raised again that I too could be raised up and be apart of your Kingdom. I Pray for all those in the south who have lost their homes, loved ones, and livelihood. I pray for the pastors, allow them to care for your sheep there as you would. Please let the Christian Community rise up among these hurting people and show them Your love and Your Kingdom. "Lord, may Your Kingdom come and your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven," and may I be apart of your work.


Love, ME 

Musings and The Radio in My Head

Today in church this song of all songs popped into my head, it was random but the lyrics to the chorus fit exactly how I was feeling and fit what the message was saying. This is who I see myself as at times in my life and walk; The song was Katy Perry's "Hot N Cold"; the chorus is as follows:

"Cause you're hot then you're cold
You're yes then you're no
You're in then you're out
You're up then you're down
You're wrong when it's right
It's black and it's white...
(you) You don't really want to stay, no
(but you) But you don't really want to go-o
You're hot then you're cold
You're yes then you're no
You're in then you're out
You're up then you're down"

I have come to realize, no come to accept and acknowledge that I am very much controlled by my emotions and the circumstances around me. I sometimes feel very emotional and those emotions, whether good or bad, control me; that is until I realize how ridiculous I am being.

This being said I have come to realize, accept, and/or acknowledge that this also effects my faith and daily walk with Him who created and saved me. I am very easily swayed or distracted from my personal walk. This actually causes a vicious cycle of life for me. I know my days are infinitely better if I am in communion with God and am fully relying on Him; If I am not in communion with Him, through prayer, scripture reading, and other spiritual disciplines, I end up becoming emotional, in a bad way. I become callused, hurt, depressed, angry, or some other emotion, which leads me not to my knees but away from that and towards some destructive activity, thoughts, or other and brings me back to the place I have left and hadn't wanted to return to which starts those emotions again. Then cycle starts over and over again but in a downward spiral pattern.

How sad it is. I will be on Fire for the Lord and slowly let it fade to almost nothing, then being kicked in the butt or smacked upside the head and change and to let the fire grow to a blaze again only to allow it to fade. It all starts with how much sleep and the quality of it, homework, friends, stress, and other stuff taking priority over what really matters; it's quite sad actually.

In Church the Pastor quoted someone in the congregation; they stated, "...We didn't invite Christ into our lives but He invited us into His life." We need to remember that if we think we invited Him into our lives like we do to our friends, jobs, and stuff, He become just becomes one of the many things we have invited into our lives. He becomes just another thing among a bunch of stuff. We become wishy washy and can be discouraged by life; we go back to where we came from. But if in spite of this we press on, and cling to Christ we will move forward.

So I guess I just rambled on about my thoughts and they probably don't make much sense but hey my mind doesn't always make sense... but I am going to try to press on and with my new view of who I am and in light of what I said I will leave you with this, "Pressing On" by Relient K.

The Day of Firsts

Today is the First of December, The First Snow Fall on Campus, and the First Night of Hanukkah; What a wonderful Joyous day.

I know I've been very "emo" in my posts, but today is a new day, a new post, and another start to trying to be more like Christ. today in Chapel we had a day of worship, and as I was singing, I starting to actually worship, break down, and call out to my Savior. This is the first time I've done this a while and doing so I realized something. I realized that I need a length of time to just be silent and be with God an extended bit of time. A time to just worship, confess, pray, and sit at his feet. The more I learn about myself the less I like who I am; I am needy, self-adsorbed, sinful, and some many other things; Yet God still loves me.

I  look around at other believers around me, both older and younger in the faith, and see their hearts on fire for God, how I long for that. I have been churched to the point of being a hypocrite, I am a modern day Pharisee; I am a part of the modern synagogue, saying come to me for God and I'll tell to do X, Y, and Z and not A, B, and C while I am doing A, B, and C. I want to want to live out what I believe, I want to be the hands and feet of Christ.

Which reminds me of a quote a friend posted on Facebook today:

"If the church gets overrun with homosexuals, that would be terrific. They can take their place in the pews right next to the liars, gossips, and materialists."- Ed Dobson

I know this is an over kill but it reminds us we are all sinners and cannot think ourselves better than those "tax collectors" and "Gentiles". We are just like them in the fact we are sinners; we just have been given God's Grace and we can impart share some with the tax collectors and gentiles in our life.

Dear God, 
Thank you so much for your love and mercy and how you love us even in our sin. May I be moving forward, moving towards you and not backtracking; moving from my old self and the Pharisee I was and am now. Please Lord fill me, use me, and allow me to be used to glorify you by doing your work. 
Love,
Me 

Contemplation On The Cross

I want to start this with this song... its words say a lot and is the best way I could think of to start this post. it is called "Deliver Us"

The Cross a symbol of Christianity, of pain, suffering, shame, death, love, and redemption. But most people see the cross everyday, either on clothing, jewelry, or a church but what does this symbol do mean or even do for the world? since we see it everywhere we have become numb to the power it holds, and have replaced the true meaning of the cross with how we feel about it, the people who cling to it and God. When the true meaning of the cross is where God's Grace, Love and Wrath all met, and fell upon His only son. How can we wrap our minds around what that means? Unfortunately we only contemplate this about once a year or twice a year maybe even more, but unlikely. So we can not understand the power of the cross. The perfect Adam, Jesus, was tortured, mocked, and killed so the real Adam, the first Adam, and all his descendants would have to be punished. That is Love and Grace for us while Jesus took the Wrath of God. But this is only one part of the story...

Today on Easter Sunday, or apply named Resurrection Sunday, Jesus Raised from the dead! The God-Man got up and walked out after being dead for two going on three days. Because He conquered Death so can we through him. The best way for me to end this is like i started it, through these songs entitled "The Wonderful Cross" and "How He Loves" enjoy the songs and meditate on them.

Confession Of The Wrongs of The Church

A Pastor once stated, "Christ is love, it's the Christians who are mean." The sad part is Many people believe this. Just look through history or for a matter of fact look at the "Christians" of today.The Church, which is Christ's body, is not functioning properly. She is broken and more like a monster than a healer. As St. Augustine said, "The Church is a whore but she is my mother." The church is not what it should be but with out it many people would not be who they are now.

Therefore, I on behalf of the Church, the Church of God and the Followers of Jesus, would like to apologize. I Would like to apologize for all the wrong the church has done since its birth to today, whether it be intentional or unintentional. I apologize for turning a blind eye to someone in need, the poor, the widows, the orphans, the sick, the elderly, and the oppressed. I apologize for hating those who are different rather than loving them, judging and condemning instead of being light and salt; for Christians are not called to Judge, for that is God's job, but rather be salt and light to the World. I apologize for any "holy" wars and verbal attacks. I apologize for Racial inequality, in the church, as well as the gay bashing and hatred. As well as any personal attacks someone has made against you; for this is not how the body of Christ is supposed to act.

In addition I would like to ask for forgiveness of all the wrongs and sins I have partaken of form the list above. For I have grown up in the church, and I am a Christian. and I apologize for turning a blind eye to someone in need, the poor, the widows, the orphans, the sick, the elderly, and the oppressed. I apologize for hating those who are different rather than loving them, judging and condemning instead of being light and salt; for Christians are not called to Judge, for that is God's job, but rather be salt and light to the World. I apologize for any "holy" wars and verbal attacks I may be a part of. I apologize for Racial inequality and the jokes i have laughed at as well as the gay bashing and jokes. I apologize for any personal attacks I have made against people.