Right or Righteous

I'm going through and listening to all the musicals that I have on my computer right now while studying. Not studying for anything musical related, although I should, but I find the tunes catchy and the lyrics easy to sing along to.

The musical that has currently caught my attention is Dance a Little Closer. It was produced in the year that I was born and I am intrigued that it raises an issue that is still considered pressing and controversial in this year.

The issue that is being addressed is gay marriage. It is even more interesting that this piece addresses it in the realm of the Anglican Church. Despite the fact that I was raised Presbyterian, over the past three years I have found my place to be more and more in the Anglican Church. The Anglican Church has really taken a chicken stance on the whole issue, as well as the issue of ordaining someone who is openly gay.

The atmosphere where many of my beliefs have been crystallized is not one of intolerance. It is one of openness and welcome to everyone with the belief that everyone has something valid to offer. This is not changed by physical or mental ability, race, sex, orientation or age. Everyone is welcome on the basis that they are precious children of God. I have no idea how so many people can judge people with such intolerance. It is not right and it is not just. There is no grace in that judgement.

One of the lines from the song that I am listening to is "How can right and righteous be so far apart?" It is amazing that those who view themselves to be so righteous are so intolerant of the differences in others. The right thing to do is to say that everyone is valid and valued on who they are, not judged and shunned because of that.

There is a book that came out recently that I was looking at in a bookstore. Don't worry. I was supervised. The book was called "A Letter to a Christian Nation." The first few pages were exceedingly interesting to read. In the case of many, those who have just come into a new set of beliefs, beliefs that are supposed to welcoming and open, are the most intolerant of many. It frightens me that these people belong to the same faith that I claim as my own.

What is right is not always what is righteous. When vengeance is righteous, forgiveness is right. When intolerance is righteous, tolerance and understanding is right. Society needs to make a choice to be right and not righteous.

The other issue that has come up more in my life is the idea of ordination of those who are homosexual. The reason why this has become more important now is that it has become personal and is hurting someone that I love and that is not alright. It is not right because it hurts not only the person who is being turned away from a call they have heard, but the those who they could ably minister to. It is horrible because those who judge have no idea who many lives they are touching, how many lives they are changing by not allowing people to be who they are.

It is so easy to be righteous. It is easy to be proud and not bend your ideas in any way. But it is better to be right.