A Holy Tuesday

If the truth were told, I almost cancelled. My mind kept questioning whether I had good judgment in making a commitment to be on Capitol Hill yesterday morning at 6:50 a.m. I thought even more about the choice I had made when I set my alarm for 4:50 a.m. the night before. But I got up (only pushing snooze once). I arrived early. I had a Holy Tuesday.

It was during an Interfaith Prayer Service where I experienced laughter and tears, repentance and promise. A statement by a UCC pastor moved me. A song written for a man's wedding day made me laugh and cry. Watching so many couples be blessed made me weep. Seeing so many people standing on the side of love enabled me to see the love and teachings of Christ being made manifest.

And then moving towards the Supreme Court in mass while singing "This Little Light of Mine" gave me more joy than I've experienced in a long time. Seeing a sea of people with signs urging, hoping for, praying for justice and equality provided so much hope.

It was an appropriate way to journey towards the cross. There was passion and there were politics on display. Both seem rather appropriate during this Holy Week.

Sam Wells' book, "Power and Passion: Six Characters in Search of Resurrection" has been my reading this week. Wells shows how the resurrection changes everything. He writes:

Politics becomes the reorientation of life according to the freedom made possible by the power of overcoming death, and not just death but sin - through the power of forgiveness. Thus those aspects of society that had previously been just window dressing...now become the key points of transformation, the nerve centers of the new politics. We still need laws, and we still need taxes, but the control of these things is no longer the definition of politics; politics is the reordering of passion in line with a new order of power. Now, in the resurrection of Jesus, we can see that every small gesture of reconciliation or care of the vulnerable is part of the way God is transforming the world. Power and passion come together at last. 

I saw glimpses of transformation yesterday. I have experienced the same transformation as a pastor in ministry with many LGBT people. And what I did yesterday may be the most faithful witness I have made for a resurrected Christ who proclaims how he has come so that we might have life and life abundantly in a long time.