Cindy wrote in response to my earlier post, “The Whole Rick Warren Thing,”
Lesbian UU here.
And utterly unruffled by the Rick Warren pick. I’m not feeling any consternation. No anger at all.
I feel a growing spark of hope.
These days, I feel called — very powerfully called — to reach out in reconciliation. This is a time for GLBT folks to really show up in our communities and help the sick, the poor, the elderly and the children. My stripe of marriage has no bearing on my ability to do good works.
I somehow feel that, if I could make good on the goodwill that runneth over from the election, I should do it. If I can be visibly gay, visibly religious and visibly ready to bridge the distance between myself and the conservative end of the religious spectrum, I might be doing a fraction of that thing called “God’s work.â€
I’m very moved by Cindy’s words. Not because she’s saying something that I agree with more than I agree with those who are angry and hurt by Obama’s choice of Rick Warren, but because she speaks so unapologetically about her sense of calling.
Unitarian Universalists are very good at sharing opinions — what we think – but if we are to mature as a people and live authentically into our covenantal promise to support one another in the “free and responsible search for truth and meaning,” we will have to become more accustomed to bearing witness to each other’s deep calling.
We have a long history of sharing our convictions through intellectual argument and rational persuasion (that has often been quite irrational, but I digress). I am excited by the possibility of a new era where we may speak of calling, of discernment and of how God may be working through our lives.
As my friend and colleague Adam says, “Rock ON.”
Hi Peacebang,
Cindy’s letter is a powerful one and your statements about the “covenantal promise” are much needed.
Just now I am reading Paul’s letter to the Philippians and have been especially struck by Paul’s expression of Jesus as the model of the character of God in his “self-emptying” humility and how we, as people of the covenant, must do likewise. Not an easy road…
In saying this, I do not suggest that those angered by the Warren choice are not living out the covenant, or that they don’t have a perfect right to feel anger and hurt. But the sometimes harsh words of those on both “sides” of this divide often do little more than dig people deeper into their respective trenches.
Cindy’s wonderful call for doing the daily work with goodwill could indeed “bridge the distance” Many thanks and blessings, BU