After I posted yesterday's entry both here and to an egroup I belong to, I found myself continuing to think about it, and whether or not to preach this week. It seems like it's working on me, like sermons often do... especially if I start my sermon prep earlier in the week, but I haven't made the space to really pray about it yet.
I don't know about you, but the shower (or driving in the car, or some other busy task that keeps my body occupied but lets my mind wander) is a place where parts of a sermon often come together. It's where I might get ideas of something I want to say and how to say it, or what the introduction is to kind of set up the sermon and have me poised for where I want to go, and often at the last minute it's where things gel enough that all the thoughts and ideas I've encountered get weeded through enough that suddenly the several main points and a possible order or outline that makes sense clicks into place. The only problem with that is that you are now dripping wet, and so you have to try and remember what came to you long enough to write it down. Sometimes, if I suspect this is going to happen, I'll take the clipboard and ballpoint pen (won't smear) with me and have them on the counter just outside the shower so I can write down what has occurred to me. If it happens while I'm driving, I will sometimes call home and leave myself voicemail messages.
So that happened to me yesterday. I'd been at home reading up on current events, and the horrible comments on the Washington Post article, and some other work-related tasks. Around lunch time I took a break for a quick snack, and went to shower because I was meeting someone to discuss funeral plans for Saturday. As I was in the shower several different things came to me... but I didn't have my clipboard, so I didn't get them down. *sigh* I should note that just because I write something down doesn't mean I use it, or that it gets stated in exactly that way... it's just part of my process for engaging something.. sometimes it may make it in, pretty closely to how I originally wrote it down, other times it's a bit different or has lead to something else that makes it in, or sometimes it doesn't get in at all (at least not this time).
A couple thoughts I remember now. Of the more vague thoughts I didn't write down were considering going back to the Washington Post article's comments and copying some of them down to share as examples of how some people describe us... leading perhaps to a pondering of why that is and the need to change that. As I drove in my car to my appointment I was pondering how I might say that if anyone knew someone who was wrestling and needed support they could come to me. I was pondering the parish's history and how I might acknowledge that but also suggest that while we don't forget, we need to move past it (and maybe they've actually moved more past it than I think and that's not as much of an issue as I'd fear), I thought about how to acknowledge that there will be differences of opinion and not everyone has to think as I do and the parish won't do anything that isn't supported by all the leadership etc., but also at the same time noting our call in the baptismal covenant to respect the dignity of every human being, and if I was bold enough I could even phrase something as "today I'm coming out... but not in the way you might think..." and then something about how I'm a member of PFLAG and Integrity and have signed the straight for equality pledge.
One thing I did remember and jot down as soon as I was dry enough to make it to a nearby pen and sticky note. It was this. It was about silence. about remaining silent, about breaking the silence.
My Bachelor's was in Communication. As part of my major, I took a debate course. In the rules of Debate... silence is equivalent to assent. If an opponent raises a point or issue or piece of evidence, and in your rebuttal time you choose to, or forget to say anything about it... too bad, you are now out of luck. You cannot go back next time you get a chance to speak and address it, if you don't address it immediately following the time it was first brought up. If you don't say anything, they assume you agree or have no good argument against it... and the point carries.
So I was just thinking about that... and whether when we are silent, either just refrain from making out point of view and support known, or don't actually disagree and protest when we hear something from others that is intolerant, are we giving our silent agreement to such statements and behavior.
Here are a couple other resources I found... The Trevor Project and GLSEN. The Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network has the following mission: The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network strives to assure that each member of every school community is valued and respected regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression.
http://http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/home/index.html
http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/antibullying/index.html
http://www.thetrevorproject.org/
I guess that's it for now... I do have some funeral planning to finish and other tasks.
Afternoon Update:
Also found out that Sharon Pearson has some good resources at her blog
Rows of Sharon blog, entry titled "A Cry for Help"
And that Dr. Phil's show today and tomorrow will be on Bullying
See the Video preview of Oct 6th show and Dr. Phil's website
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