Wendy Gritter of Canadian LGBT ministry New Direction urged her fellow Christians to stand against anti-gay bullying in a Palm Sunday message to her church yesterday.
Wendy highlighted two recent initiatives against homophobic bullying — Day of Pink and Day of Silence — and then had these words for her congregation:
In this time of confession, in this time of recognizing how quickly our own Hosannas can ring hollow, we, as the church of Jesus Christ, of all people in the Earth, should be standing in solidarity with those who are oppressed or are treated injustly for whatever reason. It ought not to be the world taking the initiative. The Church needs to stand up.
For those unfamiliar with the Christian story, Palm Sunday was the day when, according to the gospels, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, to be greeted with cheers of “Hosanna!” Less than a week later, the praise turned to betrayal, injustice and death on a cross.
Wendy’s daughter Arianna then sang Don’t Laugh at Me. Watch the video of Wendy’s short message and Arianna’s song below, or head to the original entry at New Directions’ Bridging the Gap blog. After that, browse the Ex-Gay Watch archives to find out more about the work of Wendy Gritter and New Direction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN6rT2qDPy8
That song “Don’t Laugh At Me.” I can’t remember for sure the country western artist who recorded it, but it could bring tears to the toughest person. That’s why I love country sometimes, the lyrics are so good, so heavy with human experience.
It’s a beautiful, BEAUTIFUL song about the kinds of value judgments that make one cruel, rather than compassionate. Not knowing why someone is down, but exploiting their pain when they are, and most of all…even if you never see that person again, or do nothing for them, doing nothing to bring MORE pain, is a kindness unto itself.
I don’t know why some Christians consider themselves brave and strong while doing active harm to a group of people they don’t wish to know. It takes nothing to harm someone you don’t know. But it does take more character to roll against the majority of people who ARE stronger than you.
Like Jesus himself did.
I think I’ve always known who are the good Christians, and who are the bad. And the ones who are called out on being the bad ones that epitomize what my grandpa used to say “the hit dog always hollers.”
Well put, Regan.