If you have been reading my substack posts since last fall, you may recall the day I wrote about “risk” and what happened to me at a local coffee shop. (You can read it here: https://bit.ly/3FNKkxy.) Long story shortened -- someone saw the magnetic signs on my car and didn’t like them. And they spat on my car as a sign of their displeasure.
Well, fast forward to today, some five months later, and someone decided to remove them from my car. To steal them. To take property that was not theirs, off the car my husband and I drove to the Catawba Valley Trans Pride Festival.
The magnets were on a car that looked like this, but not as clean and shiny, parked near the Catawba Valley Medical tent, just off the dirt road that goes by the church.
Now, it doesn’t really matter to me why you decided to steal from me. I don’t know you. Perhaps like the person who spat on my car a few months ago, you didn’t like the words “affirming” and “inclusive” on the sign of a faith organization that is Christian. Perhaps you would prefer, or actually practice, being “condemning” and “excluding.” Your actions, regardless, say more about you than about me, and about the emerging faith community I lead. I don’t know your motivation, or what you plan to do with our signs. I am pretty sure that regardless, if I stole something from you, you would be angry.
I’ve run through the anger now. And yes, I will replace them. Maybe I’ll find something that I can display on the inside of the glass of my car, so that if someone wants to steal them, they’ll have to break some glass or break into my car. Maybe someone would have noticed if it had been harder to steal them.
I am basically just sad. Sad, because you may hate people who are different from you, who you don’t understand, and you felt empowered to steal. I hope that if you are a person of faith, any faith, that your act may lodge uncomfortably in your heart and mind, and cause you to realize that what you did today was just wrong. I don’t know if that will happen. I am not holding my breath.
So, here’s the deal. In a world where bullies are running roughshod over others, when Presidents can say they are going to “take” a whole other country because “we” need it, when democracy is being threatened by those who want to control everything, where elected officials allow themselves to be bullied into accepting what is completely unacceptable to many of us, there are people who can clearly see right from wrong. You are being gaslighted. And if you don’t know what that means, perhaps you should look it up.
My work in the last two years has led me to people whose stories are heart-breaking. The church has done much harm to many people by telling them who they are is wrong. They have called something that is not a choice a sin. This is just scientific fact. That is not what my faith tells me. My faith tells me to love my neighbor as I love myself. I can only love myself because I know that God loves me. And I can only love my neighbor, because I love myself. And yes, even you, “neighbor,” the one or ones who stole my magnetic signs. I can only love you through the power of the Holy Spirit. You aren’t making it easy.
By the way, I can love you and still hold you accountable. If you have second thoughts about your cowardly act today, and would like to apologize and return my signs, let me know. I’ll meet you in a public place. You can talk. I will listen. And then I may talk a little. That’s how conversation works.
For everyone else, if you happen to see these signs anywhere, either on social media or in person, let me know. This theft happens at a time when I am feeling the pressure to make this ministry a financially sustainable one. We are running on grant money, which will run out sooner or later. But I will find a way to continue, no matter what, because it matters. If one person, just one, realizes that someone, anyone, values their life, and if that keeps them from slipping away into depression, isolation, or worse, then it is worth it. The $75 for the signs was a good investment.
Oh, and if you think what we are doing is important, perhaps you can help me figure out this whole sustainability concept. I have ideas, and skills. I need some partners to come alongside me to say, buy new magnetic signs when they are stolen. Maybe you can help me with some bigger projects, too. What happened to me today is disheartening, yes, but not a fraction of the hate that many of our siblings have endured for decades. The bullies only win if we give up. I’m not giving up. Are you?
