I went to church Sunday.
For me that is a rare occurrence. Not unlike a lot of people I have felt betrayed by organized religion and some of the hateful messages preached by clergy not the least bit interested in my spiritual well-being, but rather the furtherance of their own personal political agenda.
But I digress.
Sunday, I made my way to New York’s venerable Riverside Church, a community rooted in social justice ministering to attend “Revival,” a gathering of enlightened clergy responding to the spiritual pain inflicted by some of their cohorts upon the LGBT community. They made it abundantly clear through sermon, song and other forms of praise that those other clergy do not represent all Christians, nor are they teach the actual message of Jesus Christ.
Others have reported on the day in more detail, so I’ll give my personal impressions. I, and many others in attendance, needed to hear this message. More people not present need to hear this as well. Because too many confused individuals have hijacked church communities and turned them into political entities, espousing views never once uttered by Jesus, many of us have turned our backs. As a result, many of us are experiencing an absence of faith and a restless spirit, an inability to connect to anyone or anything of substance, while maintaining a strong, innate desire to do so.
What started out as an event to honor the many victims of the physical violence that results of too many negative messages in the universe, turned into a call for us to reclaim our right to be who we are, find connection to whatever God we pray to, and fight against these misguided and hurtful messages not with more violence but with love, compassion and understanding. In other words, we in the LGBT community, when confronted by misguided bigotry, must learn to “hate the sin, but love the sinner.”
This was the first event of its kind and hopefully there will be more, so that more people will embrace this approach. To overcome lies, you need the truth; to conquer hate, you need love. To defeat those who use a supposed spiritual foundation for all of their arguments requires a closer relationship with a higher power.