ENTRUSTED
Scary Jesus, Open Table, Last Words
“I do encounter Christians who are living their values
Almost every day,
And more and more are just doing it
Without all the hype about how right they are.”
Richard Rohr, The Universal Christ, p. 201
SCARY JESUS
In a country church Jesus still hangs on the cross. Leaning over, almost falling off.
The child (boy/girl) said; “Jesus looks Scary.”
For a developing child whose sexuality at 18 years old is transgender.
Should Jesus be scary?
She shared her fears with us. At 18, yes to her, Jesus is still Scary.
GMA and GPA are entrusted to love and care, to listen and welcome. They are given the trust to reimagine Jesus. Today to GMA and GPA the way many people present Jesus to the LGBTQAI community is really Scary.
Entrusted people rewrite, resing, reimagine Jesus as He is presented in John’s message.
We join the first disciples in not knowing where Jesus is going.
So GMA and GPA sit and watch the loving, accepting Jesus who says to their transgender grandchild:
I am the Way when you are lost in fear.
I am the truth when you are hated by people who believe they represent Me.
I am the Life when you are considering death by suicide.
OPEN TABLE
Mom and Dad asked their gay sons to attend church. They came.
A central action of this church is weekly communion.
The Pastor invited all to the table.
The gay men served each other the little wafers and tiny cups of juice.
One son served his dad. All is Good.
The Open table began at home. Long discussions. Hurt feelings. Years of separation.
Now the Open table is at home.
Open table or closed table, LGBTQAI children read their parents and grandparents better than the parents understand themselves. The children rejoice when their parents make changes, leaving old hurtful ways.
Open Table whether at church or at home costs everything. Blood, Sweat, Tears. Deep conversations, bumbling starts, changed hearts.
LAST WORDS
(of the Hebrew Scriptures)
“I will turn the hearts of the parents to their children.
And turn the children’s hearts to the parents.”
Turning of hearts starts and remains a life process. It is first the responsibility of the parents to change, transform, repent, make the move towards healing. (Not all the time, as sometimes wounds and broken promises have destroyed opportunity for healing. This story cannot respond to this place of pain, at times healthy boundries must be set.)
Everything is in question. Parents are challenged to really listen and engage. Hurting like hell, parents go their children. After all a 45 year old parent has 18 years on their children, and 72 year old GPAs must watch the trees sway in the wind, or he will be broken.
Any parent or grandparent who is waiting for their Queer Folk children to be like them is missing God’s calling. Jesus’ message a this juncure is summarized in the words, “let the children come unto Me.” A parent or GMA who opens their hear and turns to their LGBTQAI children is fulfilling their calling of being entrusted ones.
When a GPA discovers an envelope entitled “my secret” from his granddaughter, he realizes that he is entrusted with a tender soul, a cherished life.
Sometimes the child’s heart is the way for healing, as their heart becomes the way for their parents to be healed.
The Lord’s word of healing, way of healing is usually a mystery.
I believe the main responsibility of the parent is to receive their children, for any parent with a tender heart will admit he or she has a lifetime of repentance.
Turning hearts, repentance, reloving, is a process.
True “spirituality is about honoring the human journey, loving it in all its wonde and tragedy.”
Richard Rohr, The Universal Christ, p. 212.
