Pride Month Reminders
Pride Month seems like a good time for a few important reminders.
1. However you feel, act with love. Speak with love. Post with love. Give with love. Feel how you feel, but then love.
2. Remember, God loves you regardless of your gender/sexual identity or who you choose to love. Anyone who tells you otherwise is telling you about them, not God.
3. For my Christian friends, I know you want to love. I just know it. I wonder if you would consider the idea that a critical part of the gospel message is that your religion no longer needs to dictate who you love. Many of the people hearing Jesus speak would have been burdened by the belief that God did not want them to love people from other countries, people who worshiped another god, people with diseases, people who did not ceremonially clean themselves properly, poor people and the list goes on. But Jesus’ central message was to squash that. And He wasn’t saying: “love all those people despite those flaws.” He was saying, love those people. Full stop. AND He was saying that their origin and physical circumstances are not flaws for you to judge, but part of what makes them uniquely beautiful and blessed. The things that make our friends and neighbors the people that they are are not spiritual failings and you do not need to let those things interfere with your innate desire to love. You are free from the bondage of religious dictates about who to love and accept. You may simply love. That is good news if you let yourself hear it. And for what it is worth, I see no evidence that the Bible suggests otherwise.
4. For my friends who identify as part of the LGTBQ+ community, I love you and I am glad you are in the world. I hope you will offer grace to me when I do not use my privilege to support you like I should and I hope you will be patient with me as I continue to learn what love should look like. Mostly though, I’m just glad we are friends.
5. Don’t take too much time taking advice on this topic from old, straight, white dudes like me. Listen to the experts.
