Love Sets Us Free

Over the course of the past week, my heart has been broken open, both in joy and in sadness. Last Friday, even as I celebrated the landmark ruling handed down by the Supreme Court of the United States affirming marriage equality for all Americans, I also felt a deep sadness as I witnessed the anger and pain that many of my brothers and sisters who do not support the decision felt in response. I was equally pained as I observed the hurt and anger many others, including me, experienced in response to the reactions and actions of some who opposed the ruling.

Living as a gay man I have experienced, first hand, fear that someone might discover the truth about me. I have feared for my jobs, and feared for my physical well-being. I have been rejected by the church, both the Baptist and Methodist, reviled by some family members, and endured the taunts and demeaning comments from others who judge me as unworthy of love and belonging because of my sexual orientation. It hurts to be discounted and denigrated as a human being because of prejudice about an aspect of my human nature. However, I understand that what demonstrates as hatred and violence against me and others originates in fear. I also know that fear is not innate, it must be taught. I have compassion for those, like me, who experience the effects of this fear, and also for those who live with the fear of prejudice, and allow it to guide their words and actions.

Later, on that historic Friday, I watched with great appreciation and compassion as President Obama eulogized Reverend Clementa Pickney, the pastor of Emanuel African Methodist Church, who was shot and killed during Bible study the previous week. Even I as celebrated the message of healing and unity, I again felt a deep sense of sadness - not only for the families and friends of those who were killed, but also for the young man who did the shooting and all those like him who live in the fear and pain of racism - all who suffer its effects.

I grew up in the deep piney woods of central Georgia where racism was, and is still often enculturated. When I was a child and even a young adult, it was customary for my family members to use the word ‘nigger’ when referring to African-Americans. It was a source of pain for me then, and today I feel the pain of remorse for not always speaking out against this form of racism at the time. From 1956-2001 the Georgia state flag bore the emblem of the Confederate battle flag. It is heartening to know that it was officially removed and a new design adopted in 2001. I was delighted to see that Governor Haley of South Carolina recently called for the removal of the Confederate battle flag from around the capitol building. It was also encouraging to see the response from elected officials in other Southern states calling for its removal from license plates and other state emblems.

As a child I felt confused and pained when I was told by my father that I could not be friends with Mosell, my first black friend at school. I easily imagine that Dylann Roof, the young man who shot and killed Reverend Pickney and the others, grew up in a similar, presumably more severely racist culture. He was not born with fear. He was taught to fear, and his fear eventually demonstrated as hate and violence. I have great compassion for him. No one should ever have to endure the pain of so much fear.

Still, while I can share and have deep empathy, I cannot fully fathom the pain and anger that so many African-Americans must feel. For centuries, they have suffered defamation and dehumanization, simply because of one aspect of their human nature – race. And, while progress has been made, we are far from living the values stated in the Preamble to the U.S. Declaration of Independence. I think sometimes we lie behind a false belief that we recognize equality for all, and that the effects of racism are a thing of the past, but that is not in touch with reality.  We may also think that everyone in America has equal opportunity to housing, employment and public resources. A truer observation is that this falls easily as a claim to white, mainstream Christian men. I, even as a gay man, include myself in that number. We are the privileged in our American society. Credible statistical data in the Huffington Post¹ reflects that racism is still alive and well in America.  Further, USA Today reports that at least six predominately black churches in the South have burned since the Charleston shootings. While it has not been confirmed that all of the fires were caused by racially motivated arson, it does magnify the need now for us to champion love, equality and Oneness.

So, what do we do? How do we respond to the pain and suffering endured by many as the result of fear? Those are the questions I ask myself. Those are also the questions that the emerging church of the twenty-first century must ask. How do we soothe the fear and calm the tide of prejudice, racism, hate and violence?

The answer is always LOVE. We must take the Scripture below from 1 John 4: 7-21 to heart and announce it to the world. And we must do so as boisterously as those who proclaim the doctrine of hell and damnation or even racial purity and white supremacy.

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love…No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love…Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

Jesus, our master way-shower, did not shrink from his commitment to radical acceptance and love, and neither should we. We must loudly and boldly proclaim that the message of the Bible is LOVE, not fear, for as the Scripture above says, “fear has to do with punishment.” We in Unity must unashamedly and unabashedly broadcast our message that the God of our understanding is not a God of judgment and retribution. We must emphatically assert that God is Love. We must take our message to the world and do all we can to promote the Gospel of Unity in God and Oneness with all humanity. We must do everything possible to counteract the message of separation that elicits fear of God and judgment of our fellows. We must take back the message of Jesus Christ from those who teach guilt and fear, and declare that the true message of the Christ is as Jesus stated, “Love God and love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12: 30-31).

Unity cofounder, Charles Fillmore, said

"In the regeneration, our love goes through a transformation, which broadens, strengthens, and deepens it. We no longer confine love to family, friends, and personal relations, but expand it to include all things...If God is the Father of all, then men and women are brothers and sisters in a universal family, and he who sees spiritually should open his heart and cultivate that inclusive love which God has given as the unifying element in the human family. Just to the extent that we separate ourselves into families, cliques, and religious factions we put away God's love." - Christian Healing

Only Love can release all from the bondage of a belief in a punitive God. Only Love can free us from the bonds of our own prejudice. Only Love sets us free. Join us on Sunday at 10:00 as we explore together how we are freed by Love.

¹ Fifteen Charts that Prove We’re Far From Post-Racial, Huffington Post