Twenty Comments about God's Love for Goths ...

It will soon be the 6th Anniversary of the fire that destroyed the Building housing the congregation of Minnedosa United Church. A new building has replaced the old, but the congregation has never been allowed to truly heal ...

I marvel at how prophetic the advice received by an American pastor I contacted after reading his book about a Church fire he experienced truly was ... he cautioned that the fire would, if handled poorly, be the least of the problems the congregation and I faced ... hmmm, six years on I look back and see the painful truth in those words - words offered in love and care and faith ... words that the leadership waved aside and ignored.

In 2007, in response to an internet site that claimed God condemns and hate those with Goth leanings, I offered a reflection on what I believe in this regard. This posting (found here) continues to generate responses from people who follow the links from that hate-filled (and unfaithful site) through to my reflection. This past week I discovered the TWENTIETH comment offered. The comment (copied at the bottom of this posting) reminds us that issues of faith are seldom easy, and challenge us to grow past the status quo.

Yearning for things that are comfortable and familiar is not in itself a bad thing, but when we stand in a place of trauma we need to embrace the fragments of the comfortable while being open to the dynamic change that is possible when we experience the transformation faith promises. God calls us to much more than we can imagine ... in Minnedosa six years ago, we were offered the opportunity to cast aside the past and embrace the future ... but anger settled in, and the response within the community was often not that different from the nonsense sputtered by web pages that claim that God hates Goths or anyone else who is different than the writer. In the case of Minnedosa, the hatred was masked with a civil smile and couched in the bureacracy of the Institutional Church ... the end result remains the same - some are acceptable and accepted, while others are rejected and discarded ... In both cases though, God weeps and trusts in the work of the Spirit to continue to transform our world despite the best efforts of humanity to the contrary.

Over and over, I continue to marvel at the truth held in the simple statement: "With God ALL things are possible."

Comments like the one that follows reminds me to trust in God not in human creations like the Church ... thankfully, the Gospel calls us to embrace all, not just a select few. Regretably, this sentiment is too often forgotten in the Church ...

I do not consider myself emo but many if fellow students call me emo. I am a strong Christian. I feel that when many people who claim Christianity don't reach out to the other gothic and emo kids they are not dong there duty to share the love of God. Infact most "Suburban Gangsters" and "normal kids" make fun of me for not listening to Eminem or Lil Wayne. These kids normally cka Christianity. I try to explain that I don't worship Satan, cut myself, or any of that stuff. I just don't like dressing Un neon colors and listening to Hip-Hop. I'm glad that a minister (other than my dad) thinks I'm (not) just going to hell. And GOD BLESS YOU REV.