why there's a day of silence

i'm pretty far behind on my bible reading plan for this year, but still making progress - which for me is key. anyways, i'm at the part in numbers where moses out of the blue is in a funk, and grabs his stick and starts beating a rock. it's kinda funny when you think about it, and i think we all have been there at times. if we were in his shoes we'd probably want to beat the snot out of a rock too.

for me one of the things that always makes my blood boil is when i myself and others do a lot of "truth-talking" without a lot of "grace-walking". as a church we're wading through some of these waters right now, and all i can say is that it's getting way messier than it needs to.

one specific area where The Church could use a little less truth and a bit more grace is in the area of how she interacts with the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community. this friday, thousands of schools across the country will participate in a day of silence... and i have to wonder how much of these "days" have been prompted by christians speaking too much truth without enough grace.

in preparation of the day, here's a fun little exercise that might be worth your while:

1. jot down the names of every person you personally know who currently lives within the LGBT community. again...these are people you personally know, not like "i watched american idol and i know adam lambert".

2. jot down the names of every person you know who is currently considering joining the LGBT community, but maybe not very open about it yet.

3. jot down adjectives that you would use to describe your feelings for them right now as you write down their names.

i have a theory... just a "hypothesis" if you will:

i bet the more names you have down on your paper, the more gentle, loving, and grace-filled your adjectives are.