I have found myself with a loss of words when it comes to the events of the last few days.
I have struggled to put the few thoughts I do have into any kind of comprehensive sentence.
But here is my best attempt.
I do not want to insult any specific person or community by pretending to know what the full weight of this attack feels like. We are all victims to an extent. I am, to an extent simply because of geography, and thus have some heavy emotions regarding the entire tragedy...
But I realize this was not an attack on me.
This was a deliberate, intensive, hate-filled assault on a specific community of people who have been ostracized, abused, segregated, and made to feel like second class citizens simply because of how they identify sexually.
I have been on the street. I have walked past Pulse nightclub. I know people who attend events there. I know people who work there. I have friends who have been forever impacted by the events of this weekend.
This was evil in its most blatant form, coming out into the open, for the eyes, ears, and attention of the entire world.
One man with a heart full of hate, of fear, and of anger was able to cause so much hurt
In the Gospels, there is a story. A story of a Pharisee and a tax collector.
It's a simple parable, but one that is played out on a regular basis even in our world today...
“Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’
“But
the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes
to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O
God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ I
tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before
God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who
humble themselves will be exalted.”
Certainly the text tells us a lot, but the imagery is what I want to focus on here. The man who actually prayed, instead of spewing a hate filled speech to onlookers, the man who humbled himself, the man who was ostracized, rejected, and even publicly shamed just seconds before was the one whom God honored.
God didn't even recognize the Pharisee, as morally accurate his statement
MAY have been (and that is a stretch), it came from a calloused, hard heart.
Jesus condemns this attitude over and over again in the Gospel accounts.
What's my point?
Our facebook posts and tweets are not enough. It is time for Christians to ACTUALLY pray... and let your prayers become active.
Prayer without any type of action would be a foreign concept to the early church. The Lord's Prayer, found in Matthew 6, is all about asking God to lead us to ACT.
When is the last time you expressed a genuine love for someone you disagreed with?
When is the last time you showered the same kind of love you have for your family onto someone who is different than you?
Words have life. Words mean something, but they are also at times hollow.
Our words become hollow when we only seem to care about the LGBTQ+ community after a tragedy.
Our words become hollow when we say we are praying for people one day, and the next are back to spewing the same hate filled, self-righteous speech that led to much of their oppression in the first place.
And it's time to be honest: The church has been oppressive with its language and activity against this specific community. Not everyone, sure. And you do not need to be on the liberal side of the aisle as a church to legitimately love people.
We may have severe disagreements. But that is OK.
This is not the time to argue over sexuality. This is not the time to weaponize Scripture. This is not the time to become political, blame guns, religion, terrorists, or judges.
This is a moment to weep, grieve, do some deep soul searching, and BE.
Be a human being. Be broken with this community. Be transparent with yourself and with us.
This is a time where the church needs to look more like Jesus and less like the Pharisee praying aloud for all to hear.
- Changing your profile picture is nice.
- Saying you will pray for people is great.
- Using one of the many hashtags to convey your care is awesome.
- Sending some money is wonderful.
- To the thousands who stood in line to donate blood, you are truly remarkable human beings for braving the heat and giving of yourself in such an intimate way.
- By all means, PRAY. Please pray. Pray for my city. Pray for my brothers and sisters. Pray for the LGBTQ+ community. Prayer is THE most important thing you can do for us right now. Prayer works. Prayer is what everyone MUST start with.
But don't stop there: Your prayers ring hollow if your heart is still hardened.
We need to rise above that, because when the dust settles, when the news crews leave, when the investigation is over, and life attempts to crawl back to some type of normalcy... There is still a gaping hole.
There is a hole never before felt by all who were intimately affected.
There is a hole in all of our hearts that fear slowly seeps into.
I have read too many tweets of friends who are afraid to go to work, go to the movie theater, even... go to church because of these events.
Our theme parks have just installed extra security and are now doing more and more metal detections and bag searches.
There is a hole, because something was taken from us. A long time ago something was taken from us all.
We, the Church, the incarnation of Christ into this world, the bearers of God Himself, the people redeemed, the Royal Priesthood, the Bride and body of Jesus Himself... have a mission. We have been given the mission of reconciliation... and when it comes to certain communities among us, we have done just the opposite.
Christ has come to fill the hole. Christ came to bridge the gap.
God is reconciling the world to Himself, and I wonder if He is waiting for us to join Him instead of fighting against Him.
This isn't a plea to rid yourself of biblical convictions.
This is a plea to turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and ask deep down, what you believe Jesus would say to these people that we have done all we can at times to oppress.
It honestly doesn't matter what you believe is true about how a Christian should live: We haven't even invited these people to be part of our community. We have no right to impose a moralistic standard on people who we have no spiritual relationship with. We have no right to demand a conversation about theological implications of anything...because we have never extended our hand into a relationship.
We are never called to sacrifice anybody on the altar of truth. Rather to sacrifice ourselves on the altar of love.
The conversation MUST change.
 |
| Candles
lit the darkness and a chilling silence filled the air as the bell
tower rang for each of the 50 victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting. #OrlandoUnited |
It is one thing to dialogue about what the Bible says, it is an entirely different thing to be bigoted.
What we have forgotten, church is that people are made in the image of God. They are loved by Him. No matter where they are in life. No matter their decisions in life.
Because we all are in process. The only person who can claim perfection in God's eyes was God Himself... and He gave Himself up for imperfect people.
All people have one thing in common: We all are looking for community and love.
We claim that we have found the One who is all loving and all reaching. We believe that He has reached down to us. When will we be willing to extend that same grace to others?
Really extend it. Not superficially. Fully.
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Finally, I must come to grips with my own self. I would be completely hypocritical to call for such a thing by the church without first recognizing my own part in the conversation thus far. I haven't always been loving. I have in the past, wrestled with the same Pharisaical spirit as the man in the parable. I have used Scripture as a weapon, and I have hurt people with my rhetoric.
For this, and so many other things, I am sorry. If you are part of the LGBTQ+ community I want you to know that I am sorry, deeply. And this should have been said long ago, not only after such a horrendous tragedy: I hope you can forgive me.
I also hope that this will not be my words ringing hollow, but that I will become an active part of the conversation of love.
We will still find plenty to disagree about. We will all still wrestle with the theological implications of how sexuality is lived out in the Church. That is OK, because love is love is love is love is love is love... and the fact that we see the world differently is what makes our solidarity so much more beautiful. My promise is that I will never attack your humanity. I will never allow our differences to make me think less of your dignity as a person loved by and adored by our Creator.
Furthermore, I will call out the hate and fear mongers within my community and do all I can to change the conversation.
I hope it is not too late for me, for us. We have done a poor job of showing it, we have done an even worse job at reaching out to tell you... but I want you to know that we love you.
We love because we have been shown love.
Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.
And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.
God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And
as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be
afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence
because we live like Jesus here in this world.
Such
love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are
afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not
fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.
1 John 4:7-19 NLT
And to the LGBTQ+ community,
Please understand where we are coming from, not just what you have always heard, not what the uneducated angry street preachers and greedy televangelists promote. Please take a look at WHY we believe what we believe, and please help us have a conversation with you and your community.
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Nathan Bryant
is a pastor at River Run Church in East Orlando, FL. As a student at Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri he majored in Biblical Leadership, New Testament Studies, and Missiology. In 2014 he attended the Leadership Institute in Phoenix, AZ where he
continued his education from other pastors and educators at one of the
fastest growing churches in the United States. He loves the outdoors, whether it is camping in the mountains or jumping
through the waves at the beach, nothing is better than enjoying God’s
creation. Nathan longs for unity and commitment to Jesus to be a defining element in the global church of his generation.
Christ's Kingdom is bigger than our causes.
Christ's Kingdom is bigger than our boundaries.
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