To be involved in other communities requires commitment and curiosity – commitment to remain within a context, despite reasons to leave and a curiosity to understand the fabric of that context and ask questions.
God created a world, created a context, and has chosen to remain within that context from the beginning. From God’s perspective, there may have been many reasons to abandon and start over because things weren’t going as planned. God’s choice, if you will, was intentionally different.
Is Christianity markedly different because we are supposed to love, or because of why we are supposed to love? In other words, how we understand love and what motivates us to love is essential.
If we are to look at others as people made in the image of God, people who God loves deeply, if we get to love because God loves and we are created in his image, then we, as created beings, get to be curious about and committed to others. For us, curiosity comes out of love, and love gives birth to commitment.
How are you curious about the Christian community? How are you curious about the LGBT community? How curious are you about people you’re already connected to? How curious are you about people with whom you have no connection?
What do you get to do that’s intentionally different?
By Diane Hartig and Greg Gough