family
Before Lacy and I were married, we both had a blog on Xanga. Wow, we're old. We always say we could never run for president because of all the political things that we posted on those old blogs. When we started Living on Love, we decided we would give people an honest look into our lives. This is why there are pictures of crying children (and parents), and why we share our hearts with you readers. However, we have always steered clear of politics and religion knowing that our readers are diverse. And we love our readers and their diversity!
However, there comes a time when our honest hearts must delve into the mud of controversy. While millions of blog posts and tweets have certainly been dedicated to the recent Chick Fil-A controversy, we hope we can provide a fresh response. Let me first say that we consider ourselves to be liberal, Christians. For us this means we live in a tension. A tension that we believe resides in the American Christian label rather than in the story of the gospels.
Let me continue by saying that we are in full support of gay marriage and equal rights for gay couples. I hope and pray we don't lose too many readers after that statement. Not because we are in need of validation from a growing reader population (we may be a little), but because we want to have a conversation.
It seems that a line has been drawn in the sand between the Christian community and the gay/lesbian community. Have we forgotten that we live in the USA? If you did forget, be sure to tune into the Olympic games. We live in a country with near absolute freedom. I work with refugees who haven't had this luxury, so I have come to love this about the U.S. But the freedom comes with a price. It allows groups like the KKK to meet freely. We must live with the realization that if we limit one group, we limit all groups. The freedom allows businesses and business owners like Chick Fil-A's Dan Cathy to support anti-gay groups (this happens on a daily basis, just search the word "lobbyist") and publicly speak out against gay marriage. I would have a much stronger opinion on the whole situation had Chick Fil-A refused to serve or hire gays. However, it was simply an American citizen with an American business stating his beliefs and he was well within his rights. We also live in a predominantly free market. This means that the lesbian/gay community and supporters can simply stop eating there and Chick Fil-A succumbs to whatever the consequences may be for taking the stance that they did. Thus, we have the boycott and the subsequent support shown by Christians.
Here's where we lose sleep at night... There has clearly been a line drawn between Christians and the lesbian/gay community, and both groups are at fault as both use the media attention to draw support for their cause. I hate that those WWJD bracelets were so popular because it makes the question, "What would Jesus do?" seem so lame and out of date. But it's a question that should be asked.
Jesus didn't stand in line with the church members. He ate with those shunned by the religious community. Maybe Jesus didn't do this to convert, or "save," or change. Maybe he had no agenda. Maybe he wanted a meal with different people who had things to say. A meal is an intimate event. You must converse. Have you ever sat at a meal where no one talks? It's so terrible that it rarely ever happens. You ask questions about each other. You share stories. You do whatever you have to do to eliminate the silence. And here is my point: How many people that stood in line yesterday are friends with someone who is gay? I bet less than 1%. In dining, Jesus gave us an example of an intimate experience of getting to know someone, an example that we should follow. Somehow eating with fellow Christians to stick it to the gay/lesbian community has completely missed the boat. Ironically, we have gotten that delicious chicken sandwich all wrong. We're using it to divide rather than include. Several years ago, I was lucky enough to make an incredible friend. A few weeks into our friendship, this person confided in me about their being gay. It completely changed my view. The line drawn will always blur. And this is a good thing.
Social media has become an incredible thing. We connect with friends and family that we may haven't seen in years. We learn from and befriend people from all walks of life from all across the country. We share ideas and projects on blogs. I must thank all you food/cooking bloggers for providing our family with a wide array of awesome dishes. But there is always a negative consequence. We live in a world where we receive our news in 140 characters or less. Our political views are shaped by 30 second adds stating who such-and-such candidate is not like and by one-sentence gaffs rather than years of political action. In this new world, we haven't caught up to our technology. We've forgotten how to connect person to person. We've forgotten how to converse with more than 140 characters and we have Instagram to prove it. We've forgotten how to listen to different points of views. Hell, we've forgotten how to listen.
We certainly have a lot of thinking to do, realizing this is only the first step. How can the Stroessner family connect to our readers and our community in this new age? How can we bring diverse people together to simply dine and chat? Food is my 3rd love behind family and friends. There is more power in it than we will ever realize. Maybe we'll start there. The bottom line is that yesterday's ordeal didn't make a stand for love or community or peace. Instead, it made the line between two groups even bigger, even bolder, even harder to blur, harder to cross.
Thanks for taking the time to read. It's a step in the right direction for us all.
We'd love to hear your thoughts. We demand that you are respectful of other comments. Let's practice civility in discussion and make the world a better place.
-Phil
However, there comes a time when our honest hearts must delve into the mud of controversy. While millions of blog posts and tweets have certainly been dedicated to the recent Chick Fil-A controversy, we hope we can provide a fresh response. Let me first say that we consider ourselves to be liberal, Christians. For us this means we live in a tension. A tension that we believe resides in the American Christian label rather than in the story of the gospels.
Let me continue by saying that we are in full support of gay marriage and equal rights for gay couples. I hope and pray we don't lose too many readers after that statement. Not because we are in need of validation from a growing reader population (we may be a little), but because we want to have a conversation.
It seems that a line has been drawn in the sand between the Christian community and the gay/lesbian community. Have we forgotten that we live in the USA? If you did forget, be sure to tune into the Olympic games. We live in a country with near absolute freedom. I work with refugees who haven't had this luxury, so I have come to love this about the U.S. But the freedom comes with a price. It allows groups like the KKK to meet freely. We must live with the realization that if we limit one group, we limit all groups. The freedom allows businesses and business owners like Chick Fil-A's Dan Cathy to support anti-gay groups (this happens on a daily basis, just search the word "lobbyist") and publicly speak out against gay marriage. I would have a much stronger opinion on the whole situation had Chick Fil-A refused to serve or hire gays. However, it was simply an American citizen with an American business stating his beliefs and he was well within his rights. We also live in a predominantly free market. This means that the lesbian/gay community and supporters can simply stop eating there and Chick Fil-A succumbs to whatever the consequences may be for taking the stance that they did. Thus, we have the boycott and the subsequent support shown by Christians.
Here's where we lose sleep at night... There has clearly been a line drawn between Christians and the lesbian/gay community, and both groups are at fault as both use the media attention to draw support for their cause. I hate that those WWJD bracelets were so popular because it makes the question, "What would Jesus do?" seem so lame and out of date. But it's a question that should be asked.
Jesus didn't stand in line with the church members. He ate with those shunned by the religious community. Maybe Jesus didn't do this to convert, or "save," or change. Maybe he had no agenda. Maybe he wanted a meal with different people who had things to say. A meal is an intimate event. You must converse. Have you ever sat at a meal where no one talks? It's so terrible that it rarely ever happens. You ask questions about each other. You share stories. You do whatever you have to do to eliminate the silence. And here is my point: How many people that stood in line yesterday are friends with someone who is gay? I bet less than 1%. In dining, Jesus gave us an example of an intimate experience of getting to know someone, an example that we should follow. Somehow eating with fellow Christians to stick it to the gay/lesbian community has completely missed the boat. Ironically, we have gotten that delicious chicken sandwich all wrong. We're using it to divide rather than include. Several years ago, I was lucky enough to make an incredible friend. A few weeks into our friendship, this person confided in me about their being gay. It completely changed my view. The line drawn will always blur. And this is a good thing.
Social media has become an incredible thing. We connect with friends and family that we may haven't seen in years. We learn from and befriend people from all walks of life from all across the country. We share ideas and projects on blogs. I must thank all you food/cooking bloggers for providing our family with a wide array of awesome dishes. But there is always a negative consequence. We live in a world where we receive our news in 140 characters or less. Our political views are shaped by 30 second adds stating who such-and-such candidate is not like and by one-sentence gaffs rather than years of political action. In this new world, we haven't caught up to our technology. We've forgotten how to connect person to person. We've forgotten how to converse with more than 140 characters and we have Instagram to prove it. We've forgotten how to listen to different points of views. Hell, we've forgotten how to listen.
And so we draw lines. We decide who is our friend and who is our enemy. And this affects everyone. Christians. Gays. Christian gays. Atheists. Muslims. Politicians. Voters. Customers. Business owners. We're all at fault.
We certainly have a lot of thinking to do, realizing this is only the first step. How can the Stroessner family connect to our readers and our community in this new age? How can we bring diverse people together to simply dine and chat? Food is my 3rd love behind family and friends. There is more power in it than we will ever realize. Maybe we'll start there. The bottom line is that yesterday's ordeal didn't make a stand for love or community or peace. Instead, it made the line between two groups even bigger, even bolder, even harder to blur, harder to cross.
Thanks for taking the time to read. It's a step in the right direction for us all.
We'd love to hear your thoughts. We demand that you are respectful of other comments. Let's practice civility in discussion and make the world a better place.
-Phil
