There is a Shania Twain song that expresses what I and much of the country is feeling:
 “It only hurts when I am breathing.
   My heart only breaks when it is beating.
   My dreams only die when I am dreaming.
   It only hurts when I breathe!”
 
And from the writings of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, we are reminded that there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens.
“A time to weep and a time to laugh
  A time to mourn and a time to dance
  A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them
  A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing
  A time to search and a time to give up
  A time to keep and a time to throw away
  A time to tear and a time to mend
  A time to be silent and a time to speak
  A time to love and a time to hate
  A time for war and a time for peace”
 
This is a season for all who stand for human rights, compassion, inclusiveness and equality to mourn. Grief is an expression of the ache in our hearts. There is a season to be silent and there is a time to speak.
Silence helps us get grounded. Silence helps us to listen to the quiet within that can comfort us and give us direction. Silence is often where we hear wisdom speak.
There is a time to love and a time to hate. This is a tough one to understand because we are commanded to love one another. How I interrupt the word “Hate”, is not hating an individual but hating deeds and acts of injustice.
There is a time for war. The war is about fighting against discrimination of ANY kind.
 
Someone that is very dear to me, sent me this message last night, “Last night and through this whole day, I have felt half of the country just said that mine and every other minority’s civil rights do not matter. They aren’t even a blip on their radar. As a gay man, I feel like half the world said to me that the school bully should win against the poor little gay kid who is just trying to find himself and feel safe in such a scary world.
I feel like decency was beaten by obscenity. I feel like half of the world said that bigotry is not only right, it is celebrated and awarded. As a citizen of the United States, I have never felt more un-united and like an alien.
I feel unsafe, misunderstood, let down and most of all, I feel a level of sadness inside that I did not know existed. I must allow myself time to feel this paralyzing hurt. Then I will work to be part of the solution for myself and others.”
 
Those words express the fears and concerns of not just the GLBTQ community, they express the feelings of millions of people. Not just people in America but in the whole world.
 
There is a time to be silent and a time to speak up, show up, live up to the values and the integrity of our hearts and our beliefs.
As the pastor of Spirit Space, I am sensitive to all people’s beliefs and the dignity of the individual. To those who may have issue with this message, I say that I am aware that we have a standard in this country regarding the separation of church and state. Do not mix religion with government. I believe I am also called to support human rights and equality.
I am not mixing church and state. I am standing up for human dignity. I am an Interfaith minister. I am called to embrace and support ALL faiths and ALL people.
As Martin Luther King stated: “There comes a time when silence is betrayal.” “There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor politically popular. One must take it because his/her conscious tells him it is right.”
 
There is a time for everything and there is a season for every activity under the heavens. This is the time, this is the season to do what our conscious tells us.
 
Dr. Martin Luther King also said, “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” We are experiencing finite disappointment, yet we have infinite hope.
 
Remember:
Love trumps hate
Light trumps darkness
Faith trumps fear.
 
Together in love and peace, we can be the voice of equality.
 
I send these words from My Heart,
               Pastor Sherry