This whole thing with Rev. Haggard is really getting me. I think I may be overly identifying with him. I know what it feels like to deny what you are feeling and try to "act straight." I know what it is like to lose your ministry and have people of faith tell you that you are terrible person because of who you love.
But what he is dealing with is so much more than what I have dealt with. I am not belittling what I went through, but I didn't have a wife and five kids and a church of 14,000 people.
We may want to point fingers and snigger. But that is not very Christian, either. How can we, the GLBT community reach out to Rev. Haggard and help him to see that he really is a wonderful creation of God, JUST THE WAY HE IS! He doesn't need to hide or be ashamed. How can we help this man of God realize he really is a man of God? Created by God? And loved by God, just the way he is. He may have made dark choices, but he is not a dark person.
It would be easy to ridicule Rev. Haggard, but then we, the oppressed become the oppressors. We can't let this happen.
Rev. Haggard, you are a wonderful creation of God. What you feel need not be "repulsive and dark." You have made some bad choices, but you are not your choices. You are so much more. My prayer is that you come to realize the love of God is so much bigger than you have imagined. God did not send His Son for the few, "God so love THE WORLD!" Rev. Haggard, God loves you, a struggling man, a gay man.
5 comments:
that was the kindest, most caring commentary I have read on line about Haggard. You are commended for it.
It is hard to forgive this man, given his hypocrisy and acts of evil. Then there is the ongoing label he gives to his split off part as 'evil' itself.
Still, we are called to love and forgive even when it is not easy.
As some in my original tradition would have shouted, "Preach it, brother!"
I am working on my own post on this same topic because of developments with a fellow pastor arrested for a bj.
But suffice to say, I was disheartened by comments regarding Haggard and the blindness to see that he is a child of God and not "evil" because of his sexual nature.
Thanks for this post!
Really good post. It's hard to forgive some of what Haggard has done (I'm afraid I'm not yet up to the challenge- but I'm working on it). Still, I've been completely disheartened by the comments of many people nominally on my "side" of the issue. The inappropriate crowing and gloating serves nobody, and is probably doing a fair bit of harm. Thanks for making such a thoughtful post.
Very VERY well-stated, BentonQuest.
I find the entire situation to be a tragedy. The agony he and his family must now be experiencing is nothing I myself can imagine. Yet it seems some from the Religious Right just want to pile on, and remind anyone who will listen of what a sinful guy Haggert is. The masses seem to want to condemn the very man they put on a pedestal.
I'd prefer to think of him as a journeyer too, as someone learning about himself just like the rest of us. And someone who God certainly is still wildly in love with.
I have kept very quiet on this subject for good reason. You know my past of being a hustler. The "masseur", who I can somewhat identify with, broke the one main rule. He opened his mouth. On the streets where I was, if I was to open my mouth about clients, I would have be either broke or dead. Survival depended on your confidentality. I can't help wonder what his motives were. I do not believe that it was because of the Rev views. I think it is more selfish than that. There is a code for people in my former industry. You do not break that code, no matter how long ago it was. It is part of you. He not only attacked the Rev, but also the people at the hotel where it happened. The people who arranged this and their families are also hurt. In fact the reputation of the hotel is probably finished. His actions have ripples that go beyond the Rev. I do not know the Rev, but he is a normal sexual being. I am not a religious person, but I do have faith. I wish all involved the best.
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