I Was Asked

Dear Eugene,

Recently you said this, "I’ve never performed a same-sex wedding. I’ve never been asked and, frankly, I hope I never am asked."

I love you, as always, for your honesty.  You know the world is ready to stone you whichever way you answer.  But you didn't answer them.  You answered God.

You proceeded to say, "This reporter, however, asked a hypothetical question: if I were pastoring today and if a gay couple were Christians of good faith and if they asked me to perform their wedding ceremony—if, if, if. Pastors don’t have the luxury of indulging in hypotheticals...And to be honest, no is not a word I typically use."

I’ve never given my son a cell-phone. I’ve never been asked and, frankly, I hope I never am asked.

Well, that hope is over.  Recently he asked for one.  He asked for one right now.  He wanted me to give him an one-word straight answer right away, justification not welcomed if it is not the one word he sought.

Yes, I can see the stone in his hand.  My own son.

He asked a hypothetical question: if he can prove that everybody else has a phone and he would die if he doesn't, and if he is to do more chores and if I can take away the phone when he fails to follow my guidance—if, if, if. Parents don’t have the luxury of indulging in hypotheticals...

And to be honest, no is not a word I typically use.

Not that I didn't say No to him.  But my No is like yours when you "said No" to same-sex marriage--local, specific, particular, never abstract, often verbose and painstaking.  A lover strives to speak in a strange tongue to bridge across to the other, an impossible quest made possible only by the whole new world Christ has opened up for us.

Thanks for showing me The Way.

Yours, Alex

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