I'm a churchy person

I'm a churchy person. I've been all my life, but nowadays it is hard to say that - or use the even more tainted word, Christian - without a cringe and a disclaimer, "I'm not that type.'

But the truth is, "I am not that type" - the type that twists the Bible to bludgeon for power. Those that use their voice to spread and maintain a cruel, misogynist, and racist world and say it is the name of Christ. So often, I want to scream, "that is NOT what Jesus said!"

What type am I? I am the type that has studied the Bible and believe that the whole Bible - the history, poetry, prophets, life and death and resurrection of Christ - the whole point is to encourage and teach us to have a relationship with the creator (God) and care about creation (the world).

Trust me, there are no scriptures to support God & Guns or making fun of people with disabilities or worshipping the wealthy at the expense of the poor - in fact Christ said the exact opposite over and over again.

And though we are not as vocal as maybe we need to be - we are out here. Those Christ followers (and churches) who are loving all creation - all sexes, genders, races, cultures, income levels, citizenship status. We are also caring for the non-human creation by fighting climate change, planting trees in urban areas, and going solar.

Those churches - the ones that aren't willing to let you think, study, learn, and question while only teaching those things that keep them in privilege - those don't represent us and really do a crap job representing faith.

I have so much more I could say on this, but I will end with this:

Matthew 22:37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”