"Gay Joe: The Lost Episode"

I have had quite a response to the podcast called "Gay Joe." Mostly positive. Yet many jumped on board mid-stream having only read bits and pieces of the puzzle. They had not heard the sub-plot of how the whole journey started. The podcast answered that. But in fairness to those inquiring minds, here is the original post with a couple edits.

Enjoy.

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November 15, 2005
A Gay Day

It was a beautiful day. Saturdays are a great day for outreach. Yet even in that, I am tired of the typical theory Lets go witnessing. It is so cliche. How about a different matrix? How about, Lets witness as we go! Essentially, lets love people where they are, not only when they get to where we think they need to be.

My afternoon was filled with privilege. I had the opportunity to officiate a wedding for two friends. They had chosen a downtown church that was built in the early 1900's. Maybe earlier. The church had history and heritage woven into it's story.

As I finished the wedding and walked off the platform, I met Joe. The sixty year old man was the wedding coordinator. He had short white hair and was dressed well. He looked like he could have been the neighborhood postman in the Brady Bunch neighborhood.

Joe thanked me for the kind words of spoken blessing and then asked the question.

Have you ever had a question asked of you that just stunned you? Joe's stunned me.

It was packaged as an innocent inquiry, but there was more to it.

What it is like doing a wedding in a church that is so open and loving? He asked.

He was asking more than that. For me, having not given it much thought, he was implying two things. First, that I am not used to an 'open and loving' environment; Second, that Capital, the church I serve is not like this church. Not knowing how to react, my heart just responded.

"I love doing weddings at Capital. It's a great and loving place!" I stated.

I think it caught him off guard. I could tell he was perplexed and then inquisitive. His words painted that picture.

You mean Capital is open and accepting? He continued.

I saw for the first time what I have heard and even known. A great perception about Christians is that we are closed to loving people who dont think like us, look like us, or agree with us.

To some degree and with some people, it is true. But that is not Jesus. I am not. At least, I dont want to be. Mostly, it is a myth. A myth that the Gay Joe, the wedding coordinator believes.

With every lasting myth, there is a root cause that created perception.

What created Joe's perception? Was it some angry do-gooder who said "God doesn't love queers and fags!" Maybe it was a myth built by some angry preacher yelling on TBN that homosexuals are going to hell.

Who knows? Maybe it was me. I have made some stupid comments people, places, and ideas in the name of righteousness. I have made some bigoted remarks and packaged them as a stance of holiness.

This ignorant platform fails to see it's own blindness. It fails to see that potentially, ignorance and hatred for a fellow man is equally, if not more distasteful to the love of a Romans 5:8 God.

Yea, Joe was gay and in a ten-year long relationship. Maybe longer. But more than that, he was a person whose fate was paid in full by the God I serve.

I told Joe that...