THE RIDICULOUS DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BEING GAY AND BEING DEAD

At 4am I was awakened out of dream. Joan Dempsey, who is dead, was with me in the dream and together we went to a church which was once very dear to me. The Pastor came out to meet us both. When they saw Joan they took into the church meeting with great honor and celebration. I stood outside the door and the pastor spoke with me briefly, visibly mourning and at odds with himself. He said some day we should get together for a meal, someday he'd call me, but he needed to get back to the Lord's work. It started to rain and we were both getting wet, so he patted my head and walked away wiping his hands. I awoke from the dream missing both my old Godmother Joan and my old pastor friend for whom I had been a frequent and special guest minister. And I thought about the difference between the Christian Dead and the Christian Gay ("practicing"). Now understand this clearly, I've not really contemplated suicide and don't have a death wish, but as I laid there in my bed the comparisons ran willy-nilly through my mind. So, I thought I'd write down what is clearly rather ridiculous, yet made sad by the fact that for some Christians these comparisons are only too true. I thank God that these comparisons are NOT True for Churches that are "open and affirming" to LGBT persons. I thank God for the United Church of Christ (and the Church in which I pastor).

Remember, the comparisons were framed in reaction to my the friend of my dream, when I awoke I asked myself "If I was dead as a 'straight man,' how would I be remembered in contrast to the treatment I'd receive 'if I was gay' (which was recently an assumption and illustration in a sermon I preached)." The sad thing is that many people do treat gays worse then if they were dead (both christiand and non-christian alike). Comdemnations of gays is a gross behavior that have caused too many gays to actually consider suicide. It is behavior for which too many churches, christians, and families should repent. Note that these ridiculous comparisons are drawn from actual actions and comments levied against gays.

THE RIDICULOUS DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BEING GAY AND BEING DEAD

If I were dead they would mourn at my funeral,
If I was gay they would mourn me while yet I lived

If I were dead they would say that they love me, while rejoicing I am in heaven,
If I was gay some would say that they loved me, while believing I'd be going to hell

If I were dead they would speak of me fondly, remembering the great things I had done
If I was gay all deeds, great and small, would be in question, better forgotten, not
spoken, and to be undone

If I were dead they would love all I had created, tripling its value as they clamor to own it all,
If I was gay they would look at what I had created as if it were a witches glamour, and
fearing pollution or vile intention they would scurry to destroy it all.

If I were dead they would rejoice all my sicknesses were gone, and all pain a thing of the past
If I was gay they would put me in quarantine and be the cause of the pain I lived

If I were dead my bosses would celebrate my successes while saying how much higher I could have climbed, mourning the jobs that could have been
If I was gay they would simply take my job away as one unworthy of its honor, and then
they would mourn if thereafter I succeeded

If I were dead as a confession Christian who died in my pride and vanity, all sin would be forgiven, and Heaven my lot
If I was gay as a confession Christian, an abomination always I'd be and hell would be
awaiting me

If I were dead I'd be free of their prattle, hate and agressivity
If I was gay both awake or asleep I'd be subject to their taunts and opinions

and I'd think to myself  ["if all this were true--which it is NOT..."]
"I'd be better off dead!"