The Lesbian Story

The Lesbian Story

Craig wanted me to tell this story to those of you who were not at the conference meeting that we had, so here goes. I was at the mall the other day, actually we were all there. We go to the mall alot, since we don't really know what else to do to get out of THIS APARTMENT!!!! So I was shopping in a new store for me. I was trying to purchase couple of pieces of clothing and the transaction was taking a while. Craig was out in the hall waiting on me with the younguns....
Anyway, I started talking to the young lady who was waiting on me (she happened to be the manager of the store - don't remember her name). She asked me why we were here - the subject came up that we had just moved here. I told her the basics and she said she had heard of Mosaic since it's the church that meets in the movie theatre at the mall where I was shopping. She asked what "kind" of church it was. I gave her the good 'ole "it's just a normal church that talks about Jesus and no "denomination" or specific "theology". She said she'd like to find a church she could go to, but every one she had tried didn't work for her. See, she's a lesbian (thus the name of the story), and whenever she goes to church, all she gets is condemnation and judgement. She wanted to know if she would be comfortable at Mosaic. I told her that I had only been here a month, but that I thought Mosaic was probably the least judgemental church I knew of around here.
She wanted to know if the pastor preached against homosexuality. I said, "not since I've been here." She wanted to know what he thought about it. I told her that I didn't really know his exact stance because it had not come up. I told her that I didn't think he would openly discuss his stance from the pulpit - that he would let God deal with those issues. I realized that by getting her to that "safe place", she just MIGHT hear the gospel and just MIGHT figure out the sin issues all on her own. What a novel idea?!?!?! She talked about how she couldn't help it if she was born this way (I didn't get into that with her, obviously).
Another girl that worked there was standing there and asked if we had any other gay couples at our church. I told her I didn't know if we did or not, because it's not ever been discussed or an issue, so I wouldn't really know if we did or not.
It was refreshing to be able to say "you will be comfortable" i.e., it's a safe place. And she said she might check us out. I asked her if she ever worked on Sunday and she said "yes." So I told her she might as well come to church, since she had to be at the mall anyway. And she could come to church before having to be at work. I hope she'll come.
But it got me thinking. One of her issues was that her homosexual sin was discussed in every church she had tried to attend. But what about our sin of judgement or our sin of gossip (about homosexuals coming to our church) or the sin of being two-faced - wanting anyone and everyone to come to our church, but then not really making it a safe place for them to hear the gospel.
The pastor of the church where we just went to this ARC conference has several homosexual couples in his church. He doesn't put them in leadership in any way, but he makes a safe place where they can come and hear the truth and decide for themselves. And guess what - it doesn't always happen their first Sunday either. He has homosexual couples that have been in his church for a while. They just haven't made that decision yet, but they keep coming because they know there's something to this "God" thing that gets them through the week. Yet again, what a novel idea.
Speaking of novels, I think I'll stop typing now.