June 26, 2015 will become known as a very historic day in American history. As I’m sure everyone has heard, the United States Supreme Court passed a ruling making gay marriage legal in all 50 states. For the past few years living in Taiwan I have intentionally ignored much of the political news coming from the U.S. However, when I arrived in the States on the 24th for a nearly two month visit I was almost unavoidably thrown back into the very polarized environment that is the American political culture. On one hand, I am enjoying discussing hot topics and hashing out my own beliefs. On the other hand, I was disappointed and somewhat disheartened to see much of the response coming from Christian circles to the government’s ruling. In contrast to the gay marriage debate, I also attended the wedding of VOICE’s very own Matthew and Cami last weekend (6/28). In addition, my sister is getting married this weekend (7/4). (The craziness of weddings and wedding prep is partially why this blog post is so late!) All of these things have set me off thinking deeply about love.
Love
Throughout the gay marriage discussion the importance of love is trumpeted by both sides despite having very differing ideas on the actual meaning of love. So what is love? Wedding ceremonies often have someone read 1st Corinthians 13 which is a very popular Bible passage about love. It is a beautiful summary of why love is so important and what love looks like. It also applies to the kind of love we should show one another every day and not just the love inside a marriage. I’d encourage you to read it and think about your interactions with people you disagree with. Are you patient? Are you kind? Are you acting out of arrogance, envy or pride? Are you irritable? Easily angered? Do you get excited about truth? Those are the things we should be thinking about when addressing not only gay marriage but also in our general, everyday encounters with Christians and non-Christians alike. Love is so important here.
Love has won
The LGBT community loves the word ‘love’ and so do I. “Love has won” was chanted by a crowd of people immediately following the announcement of the decision in favor of gay marriage. I agree with the phrase but not for the reasons they were chanting it. Love has won because Christ offered himself for our sins. My sins. Your sins. Straight sins. Gay sins. All sins. Love has won because there is hope for redemption. Love wins when Christ-followers show Christ’s love to everyone around them.
