Today I finished reading a book. A radical, life-changing book. It's called 'Lord, Save Us From Your Followers' by Dan Merchant. This post is going to get incredibly long, but I wanted to quote some key points from the book and hopefully share some stuff that really hit home with me. I wish that I could share the exact words in the confessional booth or tell you about Sheila who went to Africa, but those are whole chapters.

 

This book was about a man who wanted to show people Christ's love, and find out why the gospel of love is dividing America. He started out by going into big city areas and wearing a "bumper sticker suit" covered with all kinds of bumper stickers. Conflicting ones, even. Think Darwin fish and Jesus fish.

He goes through many different interviews with people from all walks of life and opinions, like Al Franken and Michael Reagan. He talked to former senator Rick Santorum and Sister Mary Timothy. (Shown at http://www.myspace.com/joyfullnun and known for yelling at a group of Battlecry kids.)

 

I highly recommend reading this book. It will really open your eyes to what Christ's true love looks like, and how we can start bridging the gap between us and the people that are alienated by Christians.

 

[quote=Dan Merchant, 'Lord, Save Us From Your Followers']

As believers, I think we simply don't know how we sound to others; what's worse, we don't care 'cause we're right anyway - and to add insult to injury, we won't listen. What if, with all our talking, people aren't actually hearing what we intend? If we listened for a minute, we might understand how "I want to preserve the traditional institution of marriage" comes across as "I hate gay people." So what if we don't think that's what we're saying. If that's what others are hearing, what's the difference? I can't be concerned with whose fault it is - I can't accept this communication breakdown. Should the burden be on my lips of their ears? I guess it depends on whether I really want to have a conversation or I simply want to be right

 

[quote=Tony Campolo, 'Lord, Save Us From Your Followers']

There is one thing I know: Christ and the Crucifixion. I'm willing to discuss and hold up for the possibility of error in everything else that I hold. But I will not hold up for the possibility of error that Jesus Christ is Lord, Savior, the Son of God, and He died on the cross for our sins, and He's resurrected and alive in the world today. That is not up for discussion. Everything else is up for discussion, and I have to be humble enough to say, "Let me hear your point of view. Maybe you can teach me something. Maybe I hold some views that are wrong."

 

[quote=Sister Mary Timothy, 'Lord, Save Us From Your Followers'](Talking about coming out to his Southern Baptist grandmother, emphasis mine.)

When I came out to her, she asked me, "Why was I the last one to know, Timmy?"

And I said, "Well, Grams, I was a little afraid, you know your people - 'Burn the gays,' 'You're going to hell' kind of stuff."

So I was really scared to tell her. But she marched me into the kitchen and made me read that sign. Then she had me come back into the living room and sit down next to her.

"Now what did the sign say?"

And I said, "God don't make no junk."

And she goes, "So, as far as you know, did God make you?"

I said, "As far as I know, probably, yeah."

"And what is my job as your grandmother on this earth?"

"To love me?"

And she says, "Where does it say I need to hate you or condemn you to hell?" She said, "Christ didn't teach any of that stuff. If God has a problem with you being gay, you'll find out at the pearly gates when you die. It's not for me to pass judgment on you. It's only my job to love you and care for you."

 

[quote=Dan Merchant, 'Lord, Save Us From Your Followers'] "It's Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve" doesn't address the financial or social issues attendant to the same-sex marriage issue or invite a dialogue on a complex issue, it just says, "Shut up already."

This simplistic, one-way communication style we've developed seems to give us permission to be close-minded and dismissive...

Now, of course, both [i]us and them are guilty of this reductionism. But if we're trying to live like Jesus - represent Him - then we have to elevate our game. You can scream: "Theocracy!" or "The Religious Right is subverting Constitution!" or "I will fight the Hollywood agenda!" or "We must win the battle to reclaim America!" and the nature of this strident, confrontational language makes us all feel we're in the right and our enemy will be defeated. And there it is: this one-way communication creates enemies rather than dealing with the issues or, more importantly, demonstrating Christ's love

 

[quote=Dan Merchant, 'Lord, Save Us From Your Followers']Tony said something else that I took great encouragement from that helped focus and simplify my thinking. He said, "If we love somebody, we go out of our way to learn the best of who they are. And when you caricature someone you're saying, 'I don't care enough to actually know you,'"[/quote]

 

[quote=Tony Campolo, 'Lord, Save Us From Your Followers'] (talking about an openly homosexual boy in his high school, emphasis mine.)

I wasn't there the day that they took Roger and dragged him into that shower room and shoved him into the corner. And while he yelled and screamed for mercy five guys urinated all over him. I wasn't there when that happened.

He went home. He went to bed at about ten o'clock. They say it was about two o'clock in the morning when Roger went into the basement of his house and he hung himself. And I knew I wasn't a Christian because if I were a Christian I would have been Roger's friend. You don't have to legitimate someone's lifestyle in order to love that person, to be brother or sister to that person and then stand up for that person.

 

[quote=Dan Merchant, 'Lord, Save Us From Your Followers']The difference between trying to win an argument with someone and demonstrating love is the difference in the by-products: animosity or meeting needs.[/quote]

 

Now while I still have my questions, this book has helped me to realize that there's so many more things that I can be doing to show love to all people. He tells a story of a homeless ministry that goes and washes homeless people's feet.

 

He did radical things like set up a confessional booth at a Gay pride festival thing and confessed his sins to them and apologized to them for the Christian community, for the church's refusal to help AIDS, and for his own personal bashing of gays in the past.

 

We don't have to do crazy things to show people we love them, we just have to be willing to listen, or even apologize, whatever the Lord calls you to do, to show that. Just be willing to have an intelligent dialogue with someone with different beliefs. Let them tell you about their opinions, their stories, their experiences. You might be surprised at how well you can connect with people. Care about people. It'll make your day.

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