All I know is that if Jesus were the CEO of World Vision right now, and He listened to the backlash of Christians, I would be out of a job.
As I wearily woke up this morning and dragged myself downstairs, still wiping the sleep from my eyes, I opened my fridge. Innocently hoping to retrieve coffee creamer, I instead encountered a falling jar of salsa. As it crashed to the the ground, creating a mess of glass and salsa, I muttered as I do far too often, “G*d Damn it”.
I am a Christian. However, come closer. Lean in. I want to tell you something. I curse a lot. I lie. I gossip. I do not tithe consistently. I am not always kind. I question God. Last week I watched House of Cards instead of going to church. I like boys, but I probably think of them a sinful amount. I use God’s name in vain almost every time a glass jar falls out of the stock house my eight roommates and I call the refrigerator. I believe in the values displayed by Jesus. I am deeply softened by His compassion for the sinner, care for the marginalized, and disregard for traditions and rules that nurtured hatred.
World Vision, an organization that is doing life changing work such as disaster relief and caring for the precious children that Jesus so often spoke of, announced two days ago that they would begin hiring Christians in same sex marriages. Yesterday, the Christian community decided that asserting the implications of their interpretation of God’s view on homosexuality was more important than caring for the orphan, the poor, the lost.
As my journey in the Christian faith has developed throughout the past few years, I have not been able to ignore the way in which we are so quick to pass judgement on others. I myself continue to judge others based on Biblical interpretations. Rather than pursuing the unconditional and boundless love that Jesus taught and showed to others, we as Christians have perpetuated a culture quick to overlook our own shortcomings and quick to judge what we view as shortcomings in others.
And that is a real problem. Daily, myself and so many other Christians I know decide, confirmed through our actions, that pursuing a life full of love and compassion is not as important as our self proclaimed power to condemn those that engage in perceived sin.
If there is one thing I have learned in my walk of faith, it is that our wisdom is incomparable to that which lies within the hand of our great Creator. So, I have stopped asserting my own ‘wisdom’ and have started attempting (although, failing a lot) just to be kind to people; the way that Jesus was. When I read the New Testament and envision the personality of this dude Jesus, I rarely finish a story and think to myself, “Man, Jesus really hates homosexuals. I need to go pull my donations from any organization that hires gay people”. Regardless of your view on homosexuality, we can all agree on that sentiment. When I finish reading a story about Jesus I am usually overwhelmed and humbled by the great love that Jesus shows to people, and what I should be thinking to myself is, “Jesus really, really, really loves people. Deeply. I should go use whatever I have been given to try and love people like that.”
I think that is what American Christian culture needs- a little less judge, a little more love. A little less thinking and a little more doing. Besides, once a little birdie whispered to me that it is not our job to condemn others. Rather, it is our job to love. Unconditionally. Radically. Recklessly.
This all is so much bigger than World Vision and even our beliefs about homosexuality. This is about our call, as followers of Jesus, to love without question. (Can you remember a story in which Jesus asked a person if they were gay before conversing with them?)
My challenge to myself and to you, Christian, is to actively pursue love. That is hard. And pretty damn time consuming. If we all start actively pursuing love, defined in the Bible as kindness and patience, we would not have time to pull our donations from organizations that hire gay people. And, if we continue to pursue pure love, we probably would not want to pull the donation anyway.
