IMMODEST PROPOSAL

Did you know that Planned Parenthood offers:

General health care services vary by location. They may include:

• anemia testing
• cholesterol screening
• diabetes screening
• physical exams, including for employment and sports
• flu vaccines
• help with quitting smoking
• high blood pressure screening
• tetanus vaccines
• thyroid screening
  
  

Pretty cool.

Did you know that they also provide special health services for women?

• Breast Cancer Screenings

• Procedures to Prevent Cervical Cancer
• Female Infertility
• Menopause
• Menstruation
• Ovarian Cancer
• Pap Tests & HPV Tests
• Pelvic Exam
• Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)
• Yeast Infection & Vaginitis
• 
  

Did you know that they also provide special health services for men?

• checkups for reproductive or sexual health problems
• colon cancer screening
• erectile dysfunction services, including education, exams, treatment, and referral
• jock itch exam and treatment
• male infertility screening and referral
• premature ejaculation services, including education, exams, treatment, and referral
• routine physical exams
• testicular cancer screenings
• prostate cancer screenings
• urinary tract infections testing and treatment
• vasectomy

And...programs that educate around sexual orientation, gender identification, birth control and abortion.

And...they provide Morning After Pills, condoms, and abortions to people who otherwise might not be able to afford these important services.

That’s a lot of important services. That’s a long list of care...most of which is not the least bit controversial.

Did you know that Jesus provided controversial services?

The people in day believed that it was wrong to touch someone with leprosy, or someone who was bleeding, or someone who was mentally ill, or someone who had seizures.

The leaders in his day believed that there were only certain days of the week when healing could occur.

The leaders in his day believed that religious purity trumped compassion.

The state of Texas has created a crisis that denies its most economically challenged citizens these services through Planned Parenthood, (dispute-impacts-womens-health-care-in-texas) based on its disdain for a few programs within the Planned Parenthood pantheon of care. I am blown away by the callous arrogance of the legislators. I am blown away by their disregard for the lives of their constituents. The wealthy and middle class citizens of Texas will buy these services. The poor will get sick, and die. Perhaps Jonathan Swift was not so far off in his imagining of a day when the middle and upper class of society would feast on the prepared remains of the poor who had died from neglect. What a banquet of despair for our humanity.

Please join me in praying  for our sisters and brothers in Texas. Pray for legislation that will support our sisters and brothers in need.  Work for that legislation if you can. Pray that this is not a trend that will embolden other states to posture for purity’s sake on the backs of those with the least power in our communities. Health and stewardship should be available to all our citizens. Jesus thought so. I do too.

It is.

It is the place where my wife learned about God and Jesus and the disciples and which line to get in at coffee hour.

It is where she rolled her eyes with friends that would last her lifetime, at zealous Sunday School teachers, who in recent years she has grown to appreciate.

It is where my sister in law was married by a minister who was willing to go the distance to make a marriage between two faiths as natural as a marshmallow at a campfire.

It is where I climbed into the pulpit using a borrowed key and a false premise, and proposed to my wife.

It is where she said, “yes” with kisses that have burned their love into my soul for lo these past 30 years.

It is where I married my wife with over 200 friends and family gathered around as a little flower girl slowly pulled up her frilly socks.

It is where my ears glowed red as I discovered (when I least expected it) that I could become a minister.

It is where we taught a hot little curriculum called: Let’s Practice Christian Love...and giggled about the title.

It is where I was nurtured through seminary by deacons who didn’t understand my need to wear white sneakers.

It is where I became an ordained minister on a day that brought a blizzard, sleet, and blazing sunshine.

It is the 6th pew from the front, by the windows, stage left, behind the pole, where my in-laws have worshiped for 49 years...including those years when Mom had to bribe the kids with candy so they wouldn't  crawl under the 5th, 4th, and 3rd pews.

It is church suppers, and deacons meetings and pledge drives and fellowship hours and arguments and making up and laughing at it all.

It is the last stop before breakfast at The Plaza restaurant, with it’s eggs over easy, black coffee and burnt toast.


It is where my heart felt heavy and my tears fell to the ground as I looked on its charred remains.


It is where young and old and friends and strangers gathered to hold each other in warm embrace, and cry, and say, "it will be ok".

It is...burnt to the ground...but somehow, still alive.

It is in that “somehow” that faith wins the day after the darkest night.

It is in that “somehow” that God’s love will go on amidst and in spite of the charred remains.

It is in that “somehow” that we will come home, to the place we call our “home church.” today, and in the days to come.

It is burnt to the ground...but somehow, still alive.

It is.