arrogant or ignorant?
Sunday, April 19th, 2009i recently watched For the Bible tells me so - a documentary which follows the stories of five christian families, coming to terms with having a gay or lesbian son or daughter. I found it so moving and helpful that i invited members of the community of faith, of which i am a part, to view it during Holy Week (just before Easter).
About 50 people came to watch and I prefaced the movie by saying that I am tired of (and by) the debate about homosexuality in the church. It has almost never engaged gay and lesbian christians. they voice has been marginalised or ignored in favour of a debate about an issue, allowing the debate to remain impersonal. This movie transcends the debate by allowing the debate to move into the context of family and parenting. How should a good and faithful christian parent respond when their son or daughter comes out about their same-sex oreintation?
The movie focuses on people’s lives and asks what the bible has to say to people in very real life circumstances.
I recommend the movie to you. I rate it as the best catalyst for helpful conversation on this issue that i hace found. Mostly because it allows gay and lesbian people into the “debate”. While gay and lesbian members of churches may not feel safe or ready to speak out, the movie allows their voice to be heard in a empowering way.
And then the moment of transformation - when i sense all the frustration and sturggle is worth it…
A few hard-liners attended the movie. People from my community who have been fairly outspoken about the biblical position (i.e. that homosexuality is an abomination etc…) I wondered how they would respond.
And then after the movie, i was standing by my car in the parking lot. and one of the people who have tended to be quite conservative wound down his car window and surprised me. He said: “I was so arrogant to judge them.” A powerful moment of confession. I resonated with his words, but I responded: “Not arrogant, just ignorant.”
I think that growing awareness is causing a revolution of love and acceptance that no power of rejection and hatred will be able to stand against…
Ok, so most people know the outcome - a giant with one smooth stone right between the eyes.
It was like that a few weeks back when I attended an enneagram workshop. I went with limited knowledge, thinking that I was a certain type (a “3″) because so much of my life has been about the quest for achievement and the need for affirmation and the recognition of others. But the retreat leader quickly suggested I should reconsider. She suggested that I had focussed too much on the behaviour of a type, when the heart of the enneagram is really the core energy that is at the centre of our lives. This was the moment of realisation - when i found that at the core of my life is not the energy of achievement but rather fear. Wierd - because I’m the one who ridicules my wife over her fear of spiders. It seems that every person is familiar with fear. The thing about a “6″ is, they are afraid of fear itself. Fear is such a scary thing that 6’s will do anything to eliminate it. They suss out danger (or potential threats) a mile off and put strategies in place to avoid the threat. Of course a common response to fear would be to flee. Not many people have witnessed me fleeing :) That’s because I can’t let fear get on top of me. I am so afraid of fear that I confront it head on. For me, it must be overcome and disempowered, else it may threaten my entire existence. This may seem courageous or stupid (yes, i have been known to jump off cliffs into the sea in the middle of the night) but these displays of courage are a sign of my ongoing struggle with fear.