2019-01-26 - 9:13 a.m.
For young Christian , now dead
Ze has no home here
While still emerging
Ze was killed by Fear
It was a few short years ago
yet our town so soon seems to forget
with old world cries of tradition honored
conflicting with reality
The knife that cut to relieve the pressure of Ze's imploding heart
is not what killed Ze
but rather lack of compassion
in response to the shrieks of pain and blood spurting from veins
and running
still running Ze
not knowing where you belong
lack of understanding and fear triggered that bullet
compounding years of messages
You are not welcome here
I heard the heartbreaking message again
over and over
still delivered
in our churches
our schools
our families
Ze has no home here
It was Christmas Eve as I sat with my teens
who gave me the gift of family togetherness
at a Christmas Eve Celebration in a local church
Where the rector prayed he speak not for himself but words of the Lord
Invoking an authority beyond that which he, a mere man could hold
then uttered
"One thing you can be assured of
We don't change here"
as he asked
"Is all change good?
All these new pronouns
Is that good?"
To the snapping YES of my teens
in response,
I stood both appalled at the message
Ze has no home here
and proud of their proclamation that Ze will not be ignored
as the Rector proclaimed
"Come celebrate Tradition
The birth of Jesus Christ"
and
"Ze has no home here" in contradictory breaths
Yet my teens stayed and enjoyed a cup of coffee and celebration of Jesus' birth
and compassionate companionship of each other in the church foyer.
Please don't leave Ze
I want to say "Stay!"
"stop running"
Don't let anyone try to deny your existence
so I also understand the urge to run faster
YET I SEE YOU
I want to hear you
I want to celebrate with you
in our schools, our family
and Yes OUR CHURCHES
The church is the body of Christ,
remember it is a broken body
and at times,
most often at times,
perhaps at all times,
flaws are most visible in leaders who are most exposed
and make the error of forgetting their humanity.
The answer is not to tell you Ze to either run faster or put the responsibility on you to just BE here as you are
but the answer is a responsibility to seek change where it is needed
to expose those flaws and help heal them
Is all change good? The answer to that is USUALLY Yes.
We live, we grow and thus we change, both individually and as society. Its hard to regress.
Refusal to change is the cause of the greatest tragedy.
To those who say "Ze is not welcome here"
I implore YOU
PLEASE GO
�
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