"...because of one simple rule--love thy neighbor"

of late, one burning topic I've been challenged to consider revolves around how God wants me to respond to my homosexual neighbors...

"love thy neighbor as thyself" was not on a billboard in Sodom...but then again, that quote had yet to be uttered when the city was destroyed...this attitude of forgiveness and compassion was personified by the Man I call Savior, whose whole ministry seemed to revolve around meeting the outcasts on their level

Philip Yancey mentioned a quote by someone who said he was saddened by the fact that the war for civil rights [for the black community in the 50's & 60's] was fought in the courts rather than the church. What does that mean? How does that apply to this issue?

Doesn't that mean OUR hearts? "The church is not a building" and "God is bigger than the boogey man" and "if we are the body, why aren't his arms reaching?"

Our hearts have to change--a paradigm shift (says Stephen Covey in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People)--we have to beg God to use His word (our "girdle of truth") to remove or defog or recolor or crush the bigoted lenses we've been taught to see through. We have to do more than the complacent skimming of the Book that we toted under our arm to Sunday school so we could get a check next to our name on the attendance card.

The changes that we know are wrong will come. Our efforts within the laws of our nation are but a stalling tactic, since our government is not the public servant of the Right or the Church or the clean and cuddly people who do not offend us--they are the government of the United States and all its citizens.

The church, as an institution, is out of touch with society at large partly because we fight with gnashing teeth in the courtroon, rather than invite them into our pristine churches.

We can be so shallow in our efforts to save! Our job is to save them--to love them--not beat them back into the shadows!

The truth is, the battle in the courts is so much easier for us--We don't have to step outside our comfort zones...we don't have to challenge our sacred stereotypes...we don't have to get involved and risk being taken advantage of by the "least of these."

Please break down this wall Lord! Please make me usable...make my eyes see through to the heart of a man...give me x-ray vision Lord...let me see a piece of what you see: my brother and sister, filtered down to the smallest micron of your original design, that perfect design we've ruined.

You are all powerful, and you are all loving. Make this love real to me...make it an unbashful act. Father, challenge my stereotypes...purge me...purify my heart. Thank you Jesus...for your example. In Jesus name...