#IamKimDavis

According to Facebook, I became friends with Heather Cronk back in 2007 and we have 59 mutual friends, most, if not all are progressive activists I met one way or another. Recently, Heather has written a couple Facebook posts discussing Kim Davis, the County Clerk who refuses to issue marriage licenses to same-sex coupls..

Heather starts off with

Cut out the personal attacks on Kim Davis. Most of what I'm seeing is liberal/progressive men making jokes about her outfits, her appearance, her past marriages, her perceived socio-economic status, and the hypocrisy of not distributing marriage licenses due to her religious beliefs despite having been divorced three times. Cut it out.

Heather talks about her own experiences growing up in the South with conservative Christian beliefs, suggests others do the same, using the hashtag #IwasKimDavis and goes on to explain

This moment is not about a county clerk in Kentucky - it's about showing folks who live across the South that there is plenty of room to grow and to change and to shift, and to do so with love.

I like that, but it still makes me feel a little uncomfortable. It sounds a little bit like, “I used to be a close minded bigoted conservative, but I grew up, and you can too.” And that sounds an awful lot like the conservative preachers suggesting that people struggling with their sexual orientation can pray away the gay.

So, I’ll take what Heather says, and push it even further. I’ll start off with paraphrase of Luke 18:11,
“The progressive stood by himself and prayed: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people—southerners, conservatives, Republicans--or even like this county clerk….”

No, I cannot say #IwasKimDavis. I think it is better for me to say, #IamKimDavis. I try to act boldly on my beliefs, even if they are out of step with others, even if they mean that I must break the law. Sometimes, I properly discern what God wants of me. Other times, I may be convinced of something that is not what God wills. Yet I believe that even when I am completely wrong, God still loves me with love greater than I can understand.

So, I confess my sin

Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

Yes, I am a sinner. I need people to pray for me that I might discern God’s will, that I might be able to show God’s love to people different than me, even if they are bigots, homophobes, or whatever else I might find objectionable in other people.

So, pray for me, a sinner, pray for Kim Davis, and Heather, and those who once were, or even still are like Kim Davis, that we all might show a little more of God’s love to people that are different from us.