I watched For the Bible Tells Me So, a documentary about several conservative Christian families of the 50's and 60's who learn they have a gay child. (One of the families is Gene Robinson's family. Gene is the first openly gay bishop elected in the Episcopal church.)
In my own family, we were gifted with this challenge. We, too, were raised with a religious practice that condemned, though I don't remember the same vitriol witnessed on the film.
To practice the radical hospitality that Jesus practiced, that he calls us to practice, means we come into contact, heart and soul, with people who have been broken or outcast by others. But they are people. Accepting the person instead of the label changes you, not them.
When we served the homeless population in D.C., we didn't not change their circumstances. Listening to them share their stories changed us.
We are pretty good at pointing out all the ways others should change. It is interesting how God-at-work in the call to radical hospitality effects change in the one place we can control...us.
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