All posts tagged Andrew Marin

A Different Kind of Christian Demonstration at Gay Pride

by Tim Schraeder on 06/30/2010 in Inspiration with 347 Comments
imsorryshirts

How does the Church communicate God’s love to the gay community?

This past weekend Chicago, along with many other US cities, celebrated Gay Pride with a parade. As a part of the weekend, Nathan and a group of over 30 Christians from various Chicago churches went to demonstrate at the Gay Pride Parade with the Marin Foundation.

Their demonstration was much different, though.

While the most vocal “Christian” presence at the parade was in the form of protesters with “God Hates Fags” signs, Nathan and a team from the Marin Foundation took a different approach… they chose to apologize.

The volunteers wore black t-shirts with the phrase “I’m Sorry” on the front and held signs with messages of apology, on behalf of all Christians, for the way the church has treated the gay community.

While the ultimate message Jesus came to preach was one of love, grace and compassion, we’ve sadly misrepresented Him and alienated sons and daughters from their Father’s embrace… and I’m so excited to see how Nathan and his team took a different, humble approach and in the end, did something far more powerful than preaching or shouting… they showed love.

Nathan posted a story from the Pride Parade outreach on his blog that absolutely needs to be heard…Here’s some excerpts…

What I loved most about the day is when people “got it.” I loved watching people’s faces as they saw our shirts, read the signs, and looked back at us. Responses were incredible. Some people blew us kisses, some hugged us, some screamed thank you. A couple ladies walked up and said we were the best thing they had seen all day.

Watching people recognize our apology brought me to tears many times. It was reconciliation personified.

My favorite though was a gentleman who was dancing on a float. He was dressed solely in white underwear and had a pack of abs like no one else. As he was dancing on the float, he noticed us and jokingly yelled, “What are you sorry for? It’s pride!” I pointed to our signs and watched him read them.

Then it clicked.

Then he got it.

He stopped dancing. He looked at all of us standing there. A look of utter seriousness came across his face. And as the float passed us he jumped off of it and ran towards us. He hugged me and whispered, “thank you.”

I think a lot of people would stop at the whole “man in his underwear dancing” part. That seems to be the most controversial. It’s what makes the evening news. It’s the stereotype most people have in their minds about Pride.

Sadly, most Christians want to run from such a sight rather than engage it. Most Christian won’t even learn if that person dancing in his underwear has a name. Well, he does. His name is Tristan.

However, I think Jesus would have hugged him too. It’s exactly what I read throughout scripture: Jesus hanging out with people that religious people would flee from. Correlation between then and now? I think so.

Acceptance is one thing. Reconciliation is another. Sure at Pride, everyone is accepted (except perhaps the protestors). There are churches that say they accept all. There are business that say the accept everyone. But acceptance isn’t enough. Reconciliation is.

Reconciliation forces one to remember the wrongs committed and relive constant pain. Yet it’s more powerful and transformational because two parties that should not be together and have every right to hate one another come together for the good of one another, for forgiveness, reconciliation, unity.

What I saw and experienced at Pride 2010 was the beginning of reconciliation. It was in the shocked faces of gay men and women who did not ever think Christians would apologize to them.

I hugged a man in his underwear. I hugged him tightly. And I am proud.

What’s so cool about this story is that when Nathan posted the picture it lit up on Facebook and someone recognized Tristan and Tristan got in touch with Nathan yesterday afternoon. He said that all he could talk about from his experience at the Pride Parade was meeting Nathan and all of the Christians who were there to say they were sorry.

He was moved and he and Nathan are going to meet up later this week for coffee.

That’s what it’s all about. Who knows what will happen or what will come of this, but one life was impacted and countless seeds were planted in the hearts of many.

Pray for Tristan and Nathan’s conversation and pray that this will be the beginning of a movement of reconciliation between the Church and the gay community. UPDATE 07/06/10: Nathan posted an interview with Tristan on his blog!

Huge props to Nathan, Kevin, Andrew, everyone at the Marin Foundation, and those who courageously joined them this weekend in taking Christ’s love to a place most Christians would run away from. Thanks for being an example and setting a high bar for the rest of us to follow.

How is your church communicating to the gay community? Maybe we need to start with a humble apology.

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UPDATE: Many people have responded wanting to do something similar in their cities, so the Marin Foundation is making the “I’m Sorry” t-shirts available. Details here.

Engaging the Gay Community :: Andrew Marin

by Tim Schraeder on 04/30/2010 in Q with 8 Comments

Andrew Marin | The Marin Foundation
Andrew Marin is the President and Founder of The Marin Foundation (www.themarinfoundation.org) a non-profit that seeks to build bridges between the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and religious communities. Andrew has appeared on various national radio and TV programs, and his sermon Homophobia and Bridging from within the Evangelical Church—given on Capitol Hill the night before the Inauguration of President Barack Obama—is archived in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC. He is the author of the award winning book Love is an Orientation: Elevating the Conversation with the Gay Community, blogs daily at www.loveisanorientation.com and lives in the Boystown neighborhood of Chicago with his wife.

Andrew opened in complete silence for the first 45 seconds of a 3-minute presentation. He then said the following:

I stand silent to give dignity to a moment many Christians take for granted.

There are only a few sacred moments in one’s life—one of them is when you know in your heart that you’ve been set apart to dare to be remarkable by doing nothing other than believing in a just and powerful God.

The last great Roman satirical poet, Juvenal, commented about power by saying:

“But who is to guard the guards themselves?”

I am standing in a room with 600 gatekeepers to our faith. 600 influencers. 600 people that stand amongst and above the rest.

Maybe you don’t feel as such in your own mind.

But the Christian hierarchy proves different.

Jesus said that: “wisdom will be proven right by her actions.”

Well, our actions have only proven that ‘wisdom’ must be an elite group of predominantly white upper class individuals who care about their “Christian brands.”

I don’t care about your Christian brand, and neither does the Lord.

God says to Isaiah:

“These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.

Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder.

The wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”

You all are the best; you are all the brightest that our faith has. And yet where are your hearts with the gay community?

How have your tangible actions proven the Lord’s wisdom right?

Is the culture war it too political? Too divisive? Too scary? Too unknown to stop us from changing our medium of engagement with gays and lesbians.

In his famous speech apologizing to America after his sex scandal, Bill Clinton said:

“This has gone on too long, cost too much and hurt too many innocent people.”

Friends, I plead with you today that you stop being a gatekeeper and start acting like Jesus.

Much love.

[ via LoveisAnOrientation.com ]

Causes I Believe In… The Marin Foundation

by Tim Schraeder on 12/08/2009 in Personal with 1 Comment

‘Tis the season to give to your favorite charities, causes and organizations.

During this time of the year our attention typically goes to giving to people we love and causes we believe in.

When considering who or where I’d like to give to this Christmas, I didn’t have to look too far.

Andrew Marin is a great friend of mine who I’ve mentioned on here before… he’s the founder of The Marin Foundation and author of the book Love is an Orientation: Elevating the Conversation with the Gay Community.

Andrew’s heart and passion is to build bridges between the church and the gay (GLBT) community.

Yeah, I know. Is he crazy?

It’s a controversial idea but one I believe is vital for the church to begin to embrace.

I would tell you Andrew’s story, but you just need to get a copy of his book.

Andrew has single-handedly run his organization on his own as a staff of one for the past few years… aside from speaking across the country and writing his book, he also holds classes for the church and the gay community, hosts a monthly gathering called “Living in the Tension” which brings together people on all sides of the issue; and he recently concluded one of the largest scientific research studies focusing on the gay community and their relationship with the church.

He’s been busy to say the least.

I’m so excited about what he’s doing and from knowing him on a personal level, can tell you that he’s legit… the real deal. He loves people, has no agenda, and is engaging in work that is difficult and desperately needed.

So why am I telling you all about him?

Well, for one, I to say I love and support him and his work.

I think all too often the church is known more what it’s against than what it’s for… and especially with this issue, tends to have burned a lot of bridges with MANY people. Andrew is right in the middle, working to re-build the bridges and help people on both sides understand and learn from each other.

And two, to encourage you to read more about what’s he’s doing and to consider joining me in giving to The Marin Foundation.

This week he’s doing a series of blog posts highlighting a tight financial spot that the Foundation is in and, for the first time in the life of his ministry, is asking for help.

I had dinner with Andrew last night and when he told me how much he needs to keep the Foundation running I was pretty confident he’ll have no problem hitting his goal.

I personally can’t give a million, but I can give what I can and share the need with the rest of you! If all of us partner together I’m sure we can help move this vital work moving forward and make an impact in the church and gay community.

“Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as you ever can.”

- John Wesley

Love is an Orientation

by Tim Schraeder on 08/18/2009 in Books, Reviews with 7 Comments

Ok, buckle your safety belts people….

I spend the majority of my day thinking about the messages our church communicates.

And this blog, although a bit varied in content, is basically an exploration of things I’m learning, sharing of best practices I’ve picked up, and highlights different things I’ve found to be helpful… my passion is about what we say and how we choose to say it.

What are we saying?

I think if you had to sum up the core of the Church’s message… not just my church, your church, their church, but THE CHURCH, the core of our message is simple… we are called to communicate a message of love and compassion. Grace and forgiveness. Hope and restoration. Life abundant in Christ. We are to tell the truth of who God is, His Word and draw people to experience the life with God in Christ we are meant to know.

It’s really pretty simple.

When people asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was He made it pretty simple:

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

That is what we are called do as we communicate the message of the Gospel.

It is simple but we can spend a lifetime learning to understand what it means to love God and be in relationship with Him and to understand how to love and be in relationship with our neighbors, the people around us and those who we are living life with. I recently heard Dave Gibbons so profoundly say that oftentimes, those “neighbors” are  often people who are completely different than us.

So all that being said… what do you think is the first thing that comes to mind when people outside of the church think about the Church?

Some not so great words probably come to mind.

We’ve done a poor job of communicating and living out what is our most vital message. And too often our love for God has turned to being a religious routine and the way we’ve tried to show our neighbor love has been in by telling them they are wrong and don’t know the God we know and that they need to change.

We’ve missed it.

As I’ve heard many people say lately… we, as the Church, are oftentimes known more for what are against than what we are for…. Our truth hasn’t be drenched in compassion.

And you don’t have to be an expert to know that people’s view of the Church is declining in a not-so-great direction… and one of the hot button issues is how the church is responding to the gay community.

A few years ago I met a guy named Andrew Marin.

I had heard a little bit about him from some different people and was so excited to meet up with him and hear his vision… he had this wild idea of building bridges between the Church and the gay community.

Woah. Really?

I didn’t know what to expect when I met him, but I was completely blown away by his heart and the ministry God has given him.

I won’t you all of his story, but he basically described himself as being a “Bible bashing homophobe….”  But all of that changed, radically.

Sometimes we have inaccurate perceptions of different people groups or situations and it’s not until we’re actually confronted with it in the form of someone we know or love (a neighbor), that we have to confront our own prejudice, misconceptions or misunderstandings.

Three of Andrew’s closest friends came out to him as being gay, and it rocked his world. Now homosexuality had a face to him… his friends.

He struggled to know how to respond, how to be their friend, or what to do… and quickly learned that instead of talking (or preaching) that he needed to listen.

So Andrew did something crazy. He moved to Boystown, Chicago’s gay neighborhood, and lived among the gay community. He didn’t have an agenda, only to listen, to learn and to figure out what he could do.

The experience was life-changing and he came out of that experience with a message… a message that I think EVERY church leader needs to hear… and it’s not an easy one, it’s messy, it’s complicated, but while the church has been so focused on changing people Andrew would contend that maybe the Church needs to change.

We need to change our perceptions. We need to change our message. We need to stop talking and start listening when it comes to this issue, because behind every person there’s a story that needs to be heard. And you won’t know how to reach out and make a difference if you are just going by what you think or what you believe… do you know your gay neighbors? Do you know their story?

I know this is a tough and very emotional issue for many people, but Church, we’ve got to get this one right.

When the gay community hears the word “church” or “Christians” the first image that pops into their mind is this…

god-hates-fags

Now, I know most of you would agree those people are crazy (and they are!), and that they don’t accurately portray who Christians are or our message. They are an extreme.

But you know what? Their message is a lot louder than ours. Where are the people with Jesus Loves You signs? Because I think we’d all agree, God does love them just like He loves each one of us.

While it might be unfair for all Christians to be lumped into this category, I guarantee 9 or 10 times, this is the image that comes to people’s minds.

So let me ask you… what’s the first image that pops into your mind when you think of the gay community?

I’m sure it’s not an accurate one, either.

We’ve all got a lot to learn from each other.

And that definitely creates a lot of tension.

One of the coolest experiences I’ve had over the past year or so is engaging in a conversation Andrew hosts called “Living in the Tension”… it’s a group that meets twice a month to discuss all of this stuff.

People from all sorts of backgrounds, beliefs, orientations, religious convictions, and denominations are a part of it… there’s straight people, gay people, confused people, you name it… and we all check what we believe at the door and simply listen to people’s stories, discuss our thoughts and feelings, and try to model what it means to truly love (and understand) our neighbor while loving God and wanting to serve Him.

It’s definitely changed my perception and view and helped me to see that love really is an orientation. I’ve met some of the most incredible people, I’ve heard stories that would break your heart and others that would make you rage… but in the end, I’ve seen how true, loving community can make an impact and be a place of hope and healing.

I challenge you to get a copy of Andrew’s book, Love is an Orientation: Elevating the Conversation with the Gay Community… and to read it, pray, and ask God to open your eyes and your heart to how you and your church should respond and engage with the gay community.

Andrew was in Irvine, California, this past weekend speaking at Dave Gibbons’ church, he spoke on Proverbs 16:-1-7. It’s a challenging message and I encourage you to take the time to check it out.

Thanks for hearing me out on this one people, I know it’s a hard subject to tackle, but seriously, at the end of the day, the greatest message we can all communicate is one of God’s love, His grace, and compassion.

Love is orientation of our hearts… our hearts in alignment with His, seeing people and seeing the world around us through His eyes… loving and calling people to God’s embrace.

I’ll close with this reminder for all of us…

It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to convict, God’s job to judge, and my job to love everyone.

What message are you communicating?