Abomination

 Wide Open by Corita Kent

abomination

[uh-bom-uh-ney-shuh n]

1. anything abominable; anything greatly disliked or abhorred.

2. intense aversion or loathing; detestation:

3. a vile, shameful, or detestable action, condition, habit, etc.

It is not too often, I have a conversation with someone who doesn’t know me, and they use that descriptive word to describe my church and teachings. Today, it happened. I was caught unaware as I said hello to a fellow patron of the coffee house I frequent.

Upon entering, I proceeded to set up my computer and get out a couple books that I wanted to work through on this early morning.  And then, out of the blue, the man sitting next to me asked about the book I was reading and proceeded to question if it taught people about “Alternative Lifestyles.”

“What?” I thought. What a weird turn of events and an unusual question. I was a bit taken back since the book had nothing to do with that topic. I simply laughed it off, and tried to move on. The person was persistent. Soon that descriptive word I mentioned earlier was dropped into the conversation. 

Abomination. 

What a loaded word.  In Christian circles it often is an abusive word and used to describe what some consider the “sin of all sins.” Even though I kind of knew he was talking about same-sex relationships, I couldn’t help wonder, which abomination from the Bible were we talking about?  Everything from having “proud looks” to “praying wrongly” are considered abominations in scripture. Proverbs 6:16-19 offers us an entire list of abominations:

 There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable (abominations) to him:

1.       haughty eyes,

2.       a lying tongue,

3.       hands that shed innocent blood,

4.       a heart that devises wicked schemes,

5.       feet that are quick to rush into evil,

6.       a false witness who pours out lies

7.       and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

I believe that the problem with the conversation I was having lies in this list of abominations from Proverbs. I know people have differing views on Scripture. I know people have different understandings of “alternative lifestyles” (as the man put it). Ironically, his words to me were delivered through his own set of abominations. The reality was that this man had never spoken to me or been to my church. This morning, I kindly engaged him, as I would anyone at the coffee shop. Only then to endure a stream of assumptions about who I was, what I taught, and why our church was an abomination to our community – and all around his biggest concern – people of “alternative lifestyles.”

·         People, he suggested, we allowed in our church. 

·         People, he suggested, we kept unrepentant and who were going to begin to “rub off” on our community.

·         People, he suggested, who were going to have to be separated from us so we could stay untainted.

The problem he never considered in his thinking was that these “abominations,“ these people he labeled with the term “alternative lifestyles” (instead of the more respectful LGBTQIA community) were my friends, my neighbors, my sisters and brothers in Christ. Some are faithful followers of Christ who are on a journey alongside me and my fellow church members.

And that their sins, whatever they are, are no different than mine (and his for that matter).

This may come as a surprise, but the more I think of it, I am actually proud that this random man, called me and my church an abomination to our community.  That means, we must be identifying with those on the margins like Christ.  We must be walking with, eating with, associating with…wait a minute…Isn’t that what Jesus was accused of in scripture?

“Then the Son of Man came, enjoying life, and you say, ‘Look, a drunkard and a glutton, a bosom-friend of the tax-collector and the outsider!’”

Actually, looking at that list from Proverbs 6, I too have all the reason to be called an “abomination” by just about anybody (as most of us do) - and the same goes for the church - my local church as well as the universal Church.  Too often, because the Church is being such an abomination to our families, neighborhoods, communities and world by our judging, scheming, devising, lying, and stirring up conflict, we miss the opportunity to serve and be served by those God has actually drawn to our front steps and into our lives.  

So, I guess I don’t mind being called an abomination so much after all. It just tells me we are doing something right and actually making visible the Kingdom of God to ALL people in our community.