Wednesday, July 27, 2011

It Gets Better VI

I can't believe I have neglected to update this story, which left off when one of my parishioners left a copy of the It Gets Better Project book outside my office and I set it out in our reading nook. See also the earlier   posts in this series to hear how I came to receive the book and the support of Lutheran Church of the Savior in this work.

Not a week after setting the book out, we were hosting a luncheon after a funeral. After eating and visiting with folks, I had gone to my office. When I returned to the luncheon, I found a grandson of the deceased standing in the reading nook, reading the It Gets Better book. When I approached, he quickly returned the book to the shelf, but I picked it up and told him how great and powerful I thought the book was, and asked him what he thought of it. He said he had no idea IGBP had a book version, and that he was surprised to find it on display in a church building.

He had been removed from his youth leadership position in his former Baptist church when he had come out, he said, and had not found a church that wanted a 17-year-old gay kid around. I told him such churches exist; this is one, and there are many others. I told him about my dream of having the IGBP book in churches to parallel the drive to have it in school libraries, as church is another frequent setting for the bullying of gay teens. He told me he wanted to go to college for design, or something similarly awesome, hopefully in New York City. It was a great conversation, one of the most meaningful (for me, at least) I have had as a pastor.

I have not seen him again, and I don't even remember his name, but the joy I find in this memory is not about hoping to make him a member of my church. As great as that would be, I am content knowing that we were able to make this gay teen feel welcome in his time of grief. After his previous experience with church, all too common for LGBT folks of every age, he had every reason to be apprehensive about coming into a Christian church building, even for his grandmother's funeral. I am deeply glad we were able to make him feel as welcome as the rest of his family on that significant day.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Twitter

As of this afternoon I've joined Twitter, at long last. The reasons for this are multi-faceted, but worth mentioning. To start with the obvious, some of my closest friends swear by it, and it did lead to my having an excellent, healthy lunch in Urbana on Monday. Less likely, I joined in part because someone at a funeral viewing showed me his Twitter account, I guess because he was tired of talking about his late family member.

Along too-similar lines, I joined Twitter because of the tragedy in Norway today, and Twitter is the place to get news the fastest. Eighty kids, with the possibility of more? There are no words for this horror, this sadness, this senselessness. I pray for the victims, their families, their nation. Also, for the killer, though only with sighs too deep for words.

Green Burials, ctd

I've posted before about green burials, but here's a reminder from Al Jazeera news about the cost of business as usual when that business is death and burial in this country. I expect some of their numbers would be disputable, but in general, I believe green burial to be an option more natural and environmentally sound and less expensive than our usual plans. I would never say it is for everyone, but I do hope green burial becomes a viable option for more people around the country.