Friday, July 27, 2012

I Love the Gays: Ruminations on the Bad Name Given to Christians by Chick-fil-A, et. al.

There's SO much chatter on the interwebs about Chick-fil-A and their "stance" on gay marriage.  Lots of pros and cons to debate, and I have indeed weighed in on both the Facebook and the Twitter.  I mostly just commented that I finally feel like I can't eat there anymore, be it because of their ideas about marriage or their anti-choice ideology.  These things, says Dan Cathy, stem from being a Christian.  Well, my boycott stems from being a Christian, so I guess we have different ideas about what that means as well.  Shocking.


The truly disheartening thing, however, has been the multitude of people ranting against Christianity (admittedly against the bigotry of exclusion based on biblical principles) and it has prompted me to add my voice to the mix.  Here's my voice about it:


Not all Christians are against gay marriage.  In fact, I'm SO in favor of gay marriage, Christian gay marriage even, that I have vowed not to get married again until it is legal AND my church recognizes it.  Will I stick to that vow?  Who knows?  I'm a sucker for romance and I definitely want to get married, but my faith teaches me that justice is not served in this way.  The Bible teaches us a lot of things, but above all it teaches love, and I cannot stand idly by while love is being persecuted.  My form of protest may not affect anyone but me and the person I choose to spend my life with, but at least I can stand in solidarity with my brothers and sisters in Christ who are told time and again that "separate but equal" is going to have to suffice.  


My point is not to rant here.  My point is to show that there are Christians, many Christians, who hold to the biblical standards of love, acceptance, grace and mercy in the face of evil.  I am so saddened because I'm a super liberal, maybe not as liberal as my sister (I told y'all to follow her on the Twitter, @thejulieeffect, she's hilarious), but definitely on the left, and I hate hate hate seeing all the liberal websites lambasting Christians for this.  I wish there were some giant forum for me to scream that I'm a Christian and I love the gays, but it just doesn't seem to exist.  For now I'll settle for my blog.  


Maybe I'll go viral.  

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Hugs Abound

I'm a hugger.  I always have been.  If there's anything my dad taught me to be great at, it's hugging.  So on Monday, with a grammar quiz fresh off our pens, I looked around at all my fellow Greek students and saw a need for hugs.  It started with Andrew, a Korean student who is struggling to translate from Greek to Korean to English.  His always happy face was a bit forlorn, and I wrapped my arms around his neck because there were no words.  His shoulders shook for a second, but when he pulled away he was smiling.  Then there was Kathy, a returning student who is doing extremely well, but is clearly working her fingers to the bone.  I put my arm around her and we touched heads, just a bit of solidarity between sisters.

After chapel I went to coffee hour and listened as everyone tried to determine how they did on the quiz.  I decided, with all these people in the room, to offer up hugs.  I called out, "Who needs a hug?"  They were hesitant at first, but one by one I heard, "I'll take one."  So I hugged.  But there was something more behind it.  We were developing a ritual for our community, one which seems to be enduring.

I had a very hard week myself, and my community noticed.  I'm not usually one to need a hug for comfort, but when my community asked me if I needed a hug, I said yes.  And they hugged me non-stop.  They wrapped me up in love and didn't let go.  They hugged me with grace for incomplete homework, they hugged me with study dates, they hugged me with long talks over wine, they hugged me with walks around campus, and they hugged me with their very presence.  But also, they actually hugged me.  As hard as this week was for me personally, it was a giant step forward in our quest to love and trust one another, and I am so thankful for that.