love.
the way of Jesus is love.
i believe this so strongly... i believe that the essence of God, as lived out in Jesus, is love. transcending religious right and wrong. transcending cultural right and wrong. loving, knowing, being in relationship, healing, reconciling. only criticizing when it came to religious leaders, who were twisting the words and intentions of God for love into rules and outcasting and discriminating.
i've experienced this so strongly at the bedside at j-house. no matter who this person is, no matter what faith they've held, no matter what crime they've committed, at that moment of death, when the blood stops coursing through their hand, when their chest doesn't rise for that next breath, i feel surrounded in Love. i feel a trust that a God of love is big enough to hold us, to love us, no matter where we've been, what we do. that Love is the ultimate reality, for all of us. this is what i feel and know is true in that moment. Love.
i feel heartbroken over this article and the current struggle in D.C. over the gay marriage bill. i encourage you to read the article to get an understanding of what's going on, if you care to. the catholic church in d.c. runs catholic charities, a huge umbrella social service organization under which lies my field placement agency, which is a substance abuse program on the top floor of a homeless shelter. thousands of homeless people are served by catholic charities through government contracts - the government (D.C. DHS) owns the shelter buildings and pays catholic charities to run them. so... because of the government contracts, if D.C. passes same sex marriage, catholic charities would be required to offer benefits to same-sex spouses (health insurance). and this, they say, is incompatible with their faith.
how often do we, as the church, the "body of Christ," offer hate in the name of Christ? offer judgment in the name of God? how often do we exclude instead of include? how often do we stigmatize instead of love? does Jesus care more about the poor, the sick, the oppressed being cared for and liberated, or more about not giving health benefits to a lesbian spouse of an employee?
i know that there are plenty of ways that i, too, judge and exclude and hate. in the name and service of a God who is love. this is not in any way meant to be a harsh criticism of the catholic church in D.C., or even the church in general. it's a call to myself to follow in the way of Jesus, a way of radical, compassionate, humble, rule-transcending, boundary-crossing, self-sacrificial, non-violent love.
