Shadow World

When you walk in the Light, you cast a shadow.  In the Book of Acts 5:15 we see Peter’s shadow healing folks that were brought out on mats to catch him passing by. Light, in the grey area of darkness, is how the Gospel of action is spread. When we press through the crowd, to touch the hem of His garment, we realize there is no thread so loose as to not be an integral part of society’s fabric. Reading between the lines of early church miracles we see it was people on the margin of acceptable who experienced the grace of the Kingdom at hand.

What hand are we extending, and to whom?  I recently read a Christian author who professed difficulty accepting the dignity of the LBGT community because they were adding too many initials to their moniker. I suppose this position is a mere shadow of the premise there can be no such thing as a Gay Christian. When I first saw that statement in print I changed it to no such thing as an ‘over joyed’ Christian, it seemed a better reflection of our times.

I was raised as homophobic as the next guy and can’t say any progress I’ve made in the area of comprehension, compassion, or community building is remarkable. A lot of people use verse and chapter, selectively, to rationalize their aversion to alternate lifestyles. The Old Testament rules against eating shellfish, marrying out side of your family, even handling kitchenware seemed to have changed with the times. The size of God seems to be measured by the abominations ascribed to Him, (divorce anyone?), with which we align.

Jesus never shrank His Father’s love to fit political or religious contrivances. Samaritan women, menstruating women, lepers, occupying soldiers, blind beggars, prostitutes; if you were shunned by the world He who overcame the world welcomed you with arms as open as the Cross would allow. So WWJD w/ LBGT?

Conversion therapy, to pick an abomination, makes a mess of both conversion, and therapy. The truth will set you free, unless it doesn’t conform to the norm. The song says they will know we are Christians by our love. There is no B-Side that says they will know us by whom we exclude, persecute, manipulate or ignore. A lot of roadside Church signs say, “All Welcome!” If only it were true. True for you, true for me.

 

 

 

 

 

Will Schmit

Will Schmit is a volunteer outreach prison minister for Lifehouse Church in McKinleyville Ca. He is the author of Head Lines A Sixty Day Guide to Personal Psalmistry and Jesus Inside A Prison Minister's Memoir and Training Manual both available at Amazon Books and www.schmitbooks.com. The website also includes poetry, ministry updates, and music downloads from Bring To Glory a CD of spoken word with coffee house jazz.

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