Where's The Faith

Luke 18:1-8

Last night I attended a forum on Marriage Equality. The forum was led by a state legislator who has said, without doubt, he does not support same-sex marriage. I went to this forum expecting him to bad-mouth gays and use examples from the bible to do so. What I got was a great lesson on civics and the law.

The governor of our state is calling a special session to pass a marriage equality amendment to our state's constitution. I don't have a problem with that, or at least I didn't. Now I'm beginning to wonder if this amendment is being pushed through. I guess a little more research on the issue is needed.

What I want to say is that I greatly appreciated the representative's decision not to make this a religious forum, even though the forum was held at a church. I thanked him afterwards for his straight-forwardness in helping us understand his passion in respecting the process of government.

Of course, and because, I like to understand things or not let things be said without challenges, I interrupted his presentation more than a few times to ask for clarification or to state what I know to be additional truths to what he was presenting. The conversations were not bitter in any sense of the word. Both sides were presented with respect.

I can honestly say I enjoyed the forum because it was done in a way as to accept all points of view and people were allowed to come to their own conclusions after being able to participate fully at a level they were comfortable. The walk down the stairs after the forum wasn't as pleasant.

I was approached by one of the attendees of the forum who introduced himself and immediately asked whether or not I thought homosexuality was a sin. I smiled and first explained my definition of sin as anything which separates us from God, each other, or our self. With that definition in mind I told him that I do not believe homosexuality was a sin, as I don't see how two people sharing one love could be a separation of relationships.

I immediately followed that statement with this, "It's how we react to homosexuality where I believe the sin is." I say that because as we react to what others say about homosexuality we will always, always, find ourselves in a position of defending our belief. The defense soon becomes division, and the division will almost always become separation. Sure enough, the more we spoke about our different points-of view on this subject, the more we became separated in our newly-formed relationship.

Today's passage is a reminder by Jesus that sooner or later God will grant justice to all that ask. It's up to us to not give up the fight. It's up to us to not relinquish the conversation. As did the widow in the story, we are to continue to be in conversation with others so that in time justice and equality will be the norm of society.

We are to have the faith that in continually asking for and being in conversation about justice, it will be given. Yet, we are reminded by Jesus that even when he is present, we can sometimes lose faith.

Last night I began to react to my stairwell conversation in a negative way. I felt myself digging in and trying to make the point that I was right, and my opponent was wrong. I had lost faith that Jesus is on the side of equality and justice for everyone. I felt as though I had to change the mind of my new friend.

In our story the widow doesn't fight or argue. She simply asks. She is denied and decides to return and ask again. She doesn't fight or argue and again she is denied. The cycle continues until eventually the widow finds justice through the actions of the judge. This is the action of a faithful person who chooses not to get what she wants by jeopardizing any of her relationships.

This is what we are called to do as Christians: to find a way to bring about justice to all people through the love of God as exampled by the unconditional acceptance of Jesus. My hope is that the next time I can have a conversation with my stairwell friend I will have the ability to listen as much as I'm expected to be heard.