Dr Deb

I recently (2 weeks ago—early March 2024) heard about the movie Come Sunday (Pearson’s story). I watched it twice because I gathered some important lessons. Learning lessons is always my goal whether the story is factual or fiction. At the end of the movie, when he was talking to people (who like him) had been ostracized or rejected, he asked a few questions that resonated with me: “What is about loving each other unconditionally that scares us so much?” However, in my view anyway, he had already answered his question when he rhetorically asked, “Maybe if God loves everybody unconditionally, maybe we have to”. My term for loving unconditionally is “radical acceptance”. I get a similar response when I suggest to Christians that radical acceptance is missing from our approach to each other and those outside of the “household of faith”. My question is “What do we have to lose by being radically accepting?” Pearson--fortunately and unfortunately-- did not count the cost of his decision to “out” himself. The Good news is that Jesus of Nazareth knew exactly the costs and the consequences of confronting the religious community—it happened to way he planned and expected. The other good news is that Pearson found his calling and followed it. More good news, still, is that there are lots of people in our world that are looking for someone to love them right where they are, without strings and judgement, and there are people like Pearson and me that are here love without strings. The not so good news in that too many of us can’t see that the Church’s respond to “sin” or difference continues to damage our representation of a loving God. My final take away is that our fear is not of God’s wrath but of how people are going to treat us when we mess up. More bad news, we don’t know how to love with radical acceptance so to look for this kind of love from the people of God will (many times) end in disappointment—as in the movie and life unfortunately.