Join the Impact for Equality AND Grace
November 12, 2008
I know this is just about everywhere on the internet but for the one of you who may not have heard this coming Saturday, November 15, at 10:30 a.m. (PST) will be the mega-awesome Join the Impact event. Gays and lesbians along with just about every justice-loving soul who walks or rolls will be gathering at locations across the country to protest Prop 8 and every other pro-equality loss we’ve experienced historically as queer people. This is a chance to join with others in solidarity and be part of a bold collective voice calling for justice, equality, and respect for all people.
Come Saturday morning D and I will be standing in front of San Francisco City Hall with thousands of other sign-carrying folk and I wouldn’t miss being there for anything. I want to be part of the day not only because it’s going to be a significant moment in queer history but as a Christian I have this hope in the midst of all the speeches and shouting and cheering D and I might have the opportunity to extend grace and encouragement to someone in the crowd still grieving and pained by all that’s transpired in the past several weeks. In hopes that we could engage a few folks in conversation D and I will be wearing matching sweatshirts that carry the simple message “Christian, gay, and legally married!” and I’ll be working the crowd with a stack of SisterFriends Together notecards in my back pocket.
Several others of you have already said you’d be attending a Join the Impact protest in your area so would you consider joining with D and I at 10:30 a.m. PST for a 30-second prayer that God would help each of us be a place of grace in the middle of the crowds where we gather? If you’re not participating in a local Join the Impact would you consider pausing in the middle of your Saturday morning to pray grace for those of us who are from the West Coast to Florida and New York? The Join the Impact organizors want the day to be a day committed to equality for all. Wouldn’t it be awesome to have it be a day committed to the grace of God for all too? I’m just saying.
Posted in Love and Grace, News and Events
November 12th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Yes, Anita: I will join you, D and anyone else in taking that moment amidst our collective release of (fill-in-your-emotion-here) as we come together to say, “Enough!” Amidst my pain last week…and upon reading the news release sent to the Florida media by the Yes2Marriage campaign, in which they were taking pride in their accomplishment and thanking God for delivering them from the threat of “the others”…my eyes landed on a passage of scripture that I think quite nicely sums things up:
Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.”–1 John 4:20.
Funny, I never seem to hear those quotes from those who oppose us. Here’s to God’s grace, and moments of solidarity.
November 12th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
We’ll be praying for grace and peace in the midst of this protest, Anita, as you’ve said, and my partner and I will be joining our local protest in Cincinnati at 1:30 pm EST.
I’ve been following all that’s happening and reading your blogs, grieving with you but keeping in mind that this is a process. It’s just painful to watch and read about what you’re going through in CA. Keep the faith!
November 12th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
I’ll be praying.
November 13th, 2008 at 7:05 am
Hi Anita
You stopped by my blog…thought I’d return the favor as it were.
Even though I of the non-theist persuasion… I stand with you in your righteous stand for equality in the eyes of the state.
This is NOT now, nor should it EVER have been a religious matter. After you commented an individual commented such that I was equating homosexual civil rights to rights for pedophiles.
It is that type of sheer IGNORANCE we fight against.
STAND FAST STAND STRONG YOUR DAY WILL COME!
R.
November 14th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
hmmm…wish i had me a stack of them sisterfriends-together.org cards to pass out. bummer. ‘note to self’ for next time. do you have an online store or something where a stack can be purchased?
November 15th, 2008 at 7:20 am
We will be praying and standing in love too my friend, with all of us wearing “Our family counts 08″ shirts.