Clear Vision

A. Unabashed Pacifist:

Political leaders who do not establish peace are failures.

B. Unabashed Christian:

Holy One,
If I believed some spit and dirt could restore my vision, I’d jump into line for the cure.
We mostly take seeing for granted, can hardly imagine being blind, being so utterly vulnerable, so largely dependent.
But we are vulnerable and dependent. To think otherwise is to live an illusion, to blind ourselves to the reality: we are totally vulnerable to disease and disaster; we are totally dependent on you and on our neighbors.
Amen

C. Unquoting Jesus:

“How babies are born? Sure I know. My Mom told me all about my birth.”
[Just imagine...No, He didn't say it.]

D. Blog:

I have gay and lesbian relatives. I love them. They make significant contributions to the family and to the community. They are good friends, good company, good people. It’s my opinion that if there’s any “sin” involved in that minor part of them (and I think it’s arrogant, presumptuous, and biblically out of line to judge them so), it is far less significant than the clear and soul-endangering sins of “good” Christians who engage in excluding, discriminating, judging, and condemning these children of God. I also think such “good” Christians should consider removing the logs from their own eyes – greed, lust, gluttony, envy, pride, warring, self-righteousness, and depriving the poor of a chance at a decent life - instead of focusing their attention so obsessively on homosexuality (tele-tubbies?!).

I think the “good” Christians of the Dallas area congregation that refused to provide a funeral for a gay veteran should be ashamed, should beg forgiveness from the man’s family and promise never to engage in such un-Christian behavior again.

They have stained the memory of Jesus. They seem to think He should have turned lepers away rather than heal them, that the priest and the Levite were right to pass by on the other side of the road rather than to offer comfort and assistance to the man who had been beaten by robbers, and that the Samaritan who did offer such aid did not deserve to be honored by Jesus, especially if he happened to be gay.