Thursday edition

So I follow a very amazing Denver Nuggets blog (denverstiffs.com, holla!) and we had a great discussion today about what Kobe Bryant had to say to a ref. It sparked all sorts of great conversation about racial and ethnic slurs in todays day in age. Now, I'm not the most PC person to ever grace this earth, but I do believe that we ought to reign in our tongues and treat people with decency and not condemnation. I wanted to share what I posted there:

Also, as many of you know here, I’m a pastor at a conservative Christian church in Colorado Springs, so already, I have judged everyone here…just kidding. However, I think that I would personally love to see more people with the mindset shared by this blog at my church as it pertains to the GLBT community. My religion has propigated some of the worst atrocities known to man throught the course of history. Our treatment of Jewish, Muslim, Black, Native American people has been horrible.

I was talking to someone the other day about what is it that our generation will be talked about as being highly intolerant and it is this very issue. Jesus’ harshest criticism was levied toward the religious elite of his own faith. The way of heaven has always been love, peace, joy, kindness, gentleness, etc. This is HOW we should ALL treat one another EVERYDAY. Athlete, pastor, blogger, whoever you are. Even when we have hate for Kobe because of what he said we cast judgement and hatred towards him. We all need to take heed, watch our tongues, and be ambassadors of love and light wherever we are to whomever we interact with.

Finally, let me offer an apology to anyone here who has been treated as a second class citizen from someone of my faith because of who you are. We are a naive, judgemental bunch and I’m sorry if we have gotten in the way of you knowing what it means to experience Love Incarnate. We are our worst enemy.

I was sad to find out that many of the readers, who do not fall into the traditional "conservative Christian" label, we shocked to hear about a pastor who 1) admits the failings of his own religion and 2) would expect that we treat EVERYONE with love. The reason this saddens me is that I believe it is the at the heartbeat of Christ that all of his followers live and breathe this message. If most people have never encountered this, then what on earth are we doing!?

Wouldn't it be great if you told someone you were a follower of the risen Christ and they were so excited to meet you and talk about what amazing things Christians were doing all over the world?

Wouldn't it be great if we were known more for our love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control than our rules/morals that we expect people outside of our belief system to follow?

Wouldn't it be great if what I posted up above to a group of people on a sports blog got a lot of, "yeah, that's pretty much what every Christian I met believes about gay people." rather than (direct quote from the blog) "Wow, I am seriously dizzy from this challenge to a stereotype I hold near and dear. Thank you so much for this. A conservative Christian pastor who admits publicly the horrors of his own religion?! This has left me nearly speechless, which is obviously not a state I am accustomed to. Thank you again."

It is my prayer that our love would abound more and more in knowledge (of those outside of our own faith, people of different lifestyles, love shown by Christ) and depth of insight.