All Means All

These are the words of my pastor, Pastor Sue, in today's sermon. She was speaking about events at the church conference she attended last week. Pastor Sue was discussing the importance of allowing all people, regardless of race, gender, socio-economic background or sexual orientation into our church family and worship services. Our church as a whole denomination has been split for some time in the belief about sexuality. I try not to judge others and this includes their sexuality. I do not want God to judge me harshly because I spent my life judging the lives of other people. My local church also tries to welcome people from all backgrounds and sexualities into the life of the church. While gays and lesbians are not officially allowed to teach Sunday School classes or take leadership roles in the church, they are welcome to attend religious classes, services and church events. Most members try to reach out to all new members despite our differences and make everyone feel welcome.

I try to live my personal life in much the same way. I have friends who do not agree with homosexuality and openly preach against it. At the same time, I have friends who are gay and do not hide their sexuality. While I don't expect these people to ever be comfortable together, I do accept them as my friends and love them for what they do bring to my life. I teach my son to be tolerant, respectful and friendly to all people including those who have beliefs different from ours.

Jacob will grow up seeing people of different ethnicity, skin colors, religious beliefs and values come through our home. He will see me welcome the birth parents of my foster children into the house as friends. He will see me discuss parenting decisions with people who have made poor choices that led them to have their children removed from their homes. He will see me say hi and talk to the homeless people as we walk downtown. He will see me walk away from the person who uses racist or hateful language but he will never hear me be disrespectful to them. I try to be friendly to people who are not friendly to me in hopes that I can show him how to handle hurtful and negative situations peacefully. He sees me politely try to educate people about HIV/AIDS, poverty, Ethiopia, adoption, foster care, race relations and other difficult subjects.

I wish I could say that all means all in my home. I try my best. I will admit that there are people I do not feel safe around and will not allow near me or my son. I will probably always make poor choices myself at times and say things while driving in the car or after a difficult confrontation that I should not say. He may see me shy away from people who I believe will have a negative attitude towards us and our family. At the same time, I will do my best to show tolerance and will tell Jacob when I make a mistake and that I was wrong.

In the end, Jacob will grow up to make his own decisions on what he believes and how he wants to live his life. I can only hope that I am showing him a good example of what it means to be a Christian and a loving person more times than not.