Open Share

"The ego seeks to divide and separate. Spirit seeks to unify and heal." A Course in Miracles

I have a group of people that I meet with monthly. The purpose of the meeting is to coalesce faith-based organizations and people that are interested in social ministries - support groups, recovery supports, and the like. Given my typical suspicion of Christians in groups, I would generally be very wary.

But these people are really different. They are loving, and accepting, and real. They share their experience, and strength, and hope in a way that NEVER happens at churches and is practically anathema to evangelicals. I am real with them. I am out with them. I love them.

I was sharing with a friend that I would really like to have a regular group of support people where I can just relax and talk and listen. He attends a Celebrate Recovery group that he likes a lot. He recommended it. Unfortunately, no. I reminded him that gay is a rule out in groups such as that. Sadly, he totally agreed.

Celebrate Recovery is a 12 step recovery group started by Rick Warren and his Saddleback Church (I can't say that name without snickering). Warren is well known for his purpose-driven homophobia. There are days I just CANNOT get my head around how silly and hurtful and energy wasting the anti-fag frenzy is - it defies any logic and is a ludicrous drain on our humanness.

Another friend recently posted this on his Facebook wall:

"If you truly own who you are, no one can use you against you."

Shazaam! I can list hundreds of times when people used me against me. What a tragedy. I've always been a smart and creative and sensitive person. And because I was not able to own my identity, I allowed people to use my own personhood to bully me, make me anxious, depress me, and wound me. Thankfully, I really believe most of that is behind me.

The irony of programs like Celebrate Recovery (which has been touted as a reparation recovery program for people "recovering" from homosexuality) is that they purport to move people to an honest acceptance of who they are in the context of acceptance from God. And simultaneously, they inculcate their members - reinforcing their willingness to keep entire groups of people from doing exactly that.

It's clear to me, that left to develop in their natural state, without the intervention of the Rick Warrens of the world and all of his co-conspirators, most people would be decent or at least disinterested. My group this morning proved it. They are decent and real. I have no idea how some of them feel about people who are gay, but somehow, it just doesn't matter there. They, not the rest, are the church.