SHOWN THE DOOR

Shown The Door This seems to be a phrase that is foremost in my window these days. No, I haven't been fired(Yet!). It just seems to be present in my thoughts and my Facebook life. The inciting incident was a series of posts on one of my favorite Facebook pages: The Christian Left. Let me preface my story by saying how much I have enjoyed (and agree with) most of the posts put forward by this prolific page. They champion the causes that I also have come to embrace. They accept and champion out LGBT brothers and sisters. They love and accept our fellow humans who worship other gods or no gods. The message is the universalism of Love. Yes, they proclaim that Christ is real and true, but they proclaim His call to love one another to be the principle that joins us all instead of using Christianity as a means to divide us. There is a lot that goes on in this community and they don't insist that everything said be taken as gospel to all the members. I like that. I am constantly examining things and gaining new insights. I am a work in progress, so I can use a bit of leeway in my journey. I believe that it is found more often in the Christian Left than what I see happening in the more conservative Christian Right.

Recently, there was a series of posts that decried the evils of Dick Cheney. Nothing that surprising, as this page is deeply involved in political posts that counter the right-wing agenda. Some would question whether it's appropriate for either Christian wing to be so engaged, but that is a different discussion for another time. It's Facebook after all. My issue comes from a post that claimed that sometimes the posts are (and I paraphrase),"snarky or hostile, but it's OK because I'm still human even if Christian. Also Jesus got mad, too." Guess what? I got no problem with that! But it went on to say "If you don't like it, there's the door". This is where I got upset. Why is it that I need to be threatened with expulsion if I don't fall in line. It is this kind of talk that has turned me off to the rhetoric of the Right-Wing. The "you will like everything I say or you are not welcome here". What a bunch of self-righteous BS. If you want to express an opinion, great! If you want to silence other opinions then you need to check yourself. I am all about EVERYONE having a right to speak their mind. I don't have to like it, agree with it, or embrace it, but I have to be willing to suffer their right to say it, if I want the same right extended to my opinion. I do not care to be threatened with being "Shown the Door". If I want to leave, I'm sure I can find my way out. I would rather invite others in to share their perspective. I tend to gain more from those who have a different point-of-view than those that parrot my own. Don't get me wrong. I like when others agree with me, but I believe that I learn more when my beliefs are tempered by others' perspectives.

The door should always be open for those who wish to share the journey and the impressions they have gleaned from their unique walk. I cannot know all things. There is not enough time in a lifetime to walk all paths. I can only learn some of these lessons by listening to those who have walked paths I haven't even considered or dreamed of. Life is so full. I must be willing to listen more. I remain a firm believer in the reality of God and His son Jesus Christ. I recognize that there are those who have very different beliefs. My beliefs are secure enough that I don't need to silence those with different opinions. In my thinking, I show a shaky faith when I cannot handle or honor those with different perspectives. Jesus has taken me as I am. I will promote His love by doing the same to those I encounter. They will know I an Christian by my love. And it is in this that I hope to show them the door. Not the door by which to leave, if they dare to dissent from my thinking, but the door into community in this human experience. The door into my life. The door that opens upon love for all God's children.

I hope at the end of my life to walk through the door into the presence of God. Not alone, but with all my brothers and sisters. It will be a lonely afterlife if I spend my time showing people the door out of my life instead of sharing the door into a future of hope, love and acceptance. I have a long way to go and I'm likely to make a few(many) more wrong turns, but as long as the door remains open (along with my heart), I think that I will find many more people walking with me and through the door to the other side.