Monday, May 10, 2010

An Open Letter to All My Communities


Dear Everybody,

I am writing this letter to all of you, wherever you are. This is to my friends in the gay community, the Christian community, the Mickee Faust community, the Leon County/Tallahassee, FL, community... all of which have the common bond of being part of the overarching human community.

I am just one person, one voice, one human being trying to muddle through this world we call life. And I am sad and depressed by what I witness in the world. Today, I read in the gospel of Matthew about the parable of the seed and the sower. I read about what happens to the seed thrown on rocky ground, or amidst the thorns, and then what happens when the seed lands on "good soil". And the passage ended with these words:

But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. (Matt 13:16)

And I thought, "Are you serious?? Blessed??" What have my eyes seen and my ears heard lately?

Cowardice. Fear. Control. Anger. Hurt. These are very loud, incessant and ever-present noises that blow tons of smoke and drown out the beauty and the joy in the world. Even on a gorgeous, spring day in Tallahassee, I found it hard to find what was the blessing of this life. And I'm tired. I'm tired of the pitting of my rights as a gay person against the rights of a business owner to deny me a job or services. I'm tired of having to beg for the indulgence of being allowed such rights in the first place. I'm tired of Christians who keep quiet about injustice, and the others who claim to put on the mantle of Christ and then use that mantle to wrap themselves in their cowardice, fears, control, anger and hurt toward other people. I'm just plain tired!!

And I'm blessed? My mentor once told me that the closer I move toward God, the more the forces that are not "of God" will try to interfere and push me away. And "blessing", in this instance, means "possessing an inward contentedness and joy that is not affected by physical circumstances".

So clearly, I have to get back to contentedness and joy because the physical circumstances are burying me. I have a plan on how to do that.

The upside: I have received word from many of my Episcoposse that they have heard my cry for prayerful help, and are doing so. Thank you all, and peace be with you.

In the meantime, know that the bad behavior of 'the world' as of late has been making me very tired. Take responsibility for yourselves, and stop projecting all your fear and anger stuff onto me. Is there something wrong with letting people be people (be they gay, straight, Christian or atheist)?

Peace. Out.












3 comments:

jooyyll said...

Thank you for your clear voice, Susan. See you at the commission meeting tonight.

SCG said...

You are so welcome, Joy Lynn. It will be good to have you and Sheila there.

Anonymous said...

Oh so well written, my dear and good luck at the meeting tonight and I think the parable of the sower was very to the point. I thought of you, also when I read it.

Peace be with you, my daughter.

Peggins