Jaiden - Chapter 63 Gregory A. Patrick
Jaiden Chapter 63 09-21-2020
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G. A. Patrick
Good morning.
"Pastor Simmons, thank you for your invitation to speak before your congregation about the situation you witnessed in a local restaurant."
"Many of you may already know about two former local ministers who sat in a restaurant and spoke of how they believed all gay individuals should be rounded up and summarily executed simply for being gay."
"I am gay and married to a young man whom I love more than anything in this world. Peyton completes me in ways I cannot describe. My mother, Dr. Peggy Reynolds, who is sitting in the congregation today, is more than free to speak with you about how she believes Peyton completes me as a person."
"Mom is also free to tell you how my and Peyton's recently born sons, our biological children, cannot and will never be able to do any wrongs in her eyes. You have seen news reports on the birth of a set of triplets and twins born within two days of each other. They are here today with me, my husband, Peyton, my mother, and my inlaws, so you will get to meet them and see the gift you so graciously helped provide for them."
"Not only am I, and Peyton, gay, we also are Jewish. Like each of you, we subscribe to the Torah mandate, or the Bible's Old Testament. "
"Very specifically, we believe everyone we meet, as well as ourselves, to be a persons spoken of in Genesis 1:28."
"God created each of us in His image, perfect and loved by Him. I believe what He said in Genesis 1:28 must be understood and accepted in a particular way.
"As a Jew, I refer to our creator as Hashem. What Hashem did not say in Genesis 1:28, to me, is vastly more important than what He did say."
"Specifically, Hashem did not say he created a white man or a black man in his image. He did not say he made a straight or gay man, a Jew or a Gentile, an American or a Brit. Hashem only said he created man in His image, and given the particular way He spoke, His account of creation includes everybody as they are."
"Recent studies of the era around 2004 and 2005 have shown from post-mortem exams of deceased gay men that each gay man studied had the same defects of the hippocampus and the brain's hypothalamus. These malformations do not exist in heterosexual men."
"To me, that suggests that being gay is not a choice, as some people believe, it is the way God created us. We are who we are and who we will be because it was to be."
"I want to pay further attention to Leviticus 19:18 and Matthew 19:19, which say the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as you love yourself and to honor your mother and father by loving your neighbor as yourself."
"Neither verse of scripture said to love your straight neighbor, your Christian or Jewish neighbor, or your gay or straight neighbor. Those verses of scripture say only to love your neighbor. How can you have that love commanded by Hashem when you hate a person because they are different from you or live life in a particular way that results in your disapproval?"
"I must ask how, because I don't understand how one can obey Hashem's commandment when one dislikes someone because their lifestyle does not meet one's expectations or approval."
"All Hashem directed each of us to do was love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Nothing more and nothing less with no qualifiers attached to either scripture."
"I would encourage you when you run into a situation you don't understand, or you do not like, ask yourself one question: What would Jesus do and then try your best to act accordingly."
"Jesus was a Jew. He was not a Christian; instead, he was a man who preached forgiveness over persecution under the law, persecution the Sanhedrin loved nothing more to mete out."
"When the Sanhedrin chastised Jesus for accepting water at the well from an unclean woman, He rebuked them for their attitude."
"When the woman soothed the feet of Jesus with the aromatic oils of frankincense and myrrh and then wiped his feet with her head's hair, the Sanhedrim chastised Jesus."
"Jesus responded by rebuking them with words of wisdom for their attitude. When you meet a person who is gay, how do you respond? Is your response in the vane of Jesus?"
"I want to leave you with words of scripture to guide you daily when you incur people and situations you do not or do not try to understand: Ephesians 4 31-32 "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice; and be ye kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. The last scripture I will leave with you is Colossians 3:23: And whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto man."
"Speaking of forgiveness, I would like to publicly say that I have forgiven Reverends John Stevens and Sam Jefferson, and I genuinely love each of them because Hashem commands me to do so."
"In closing, I would like to say I understand some people in attendance are members of the congregations formerly pastored by Reverends Stevens and Jefferson. If you are one of those members, would you please raise your hands?"
"Thank you. What I am about to say is directed only to each of you. I have spoken of forgiveness, and I have said I forgave Reverends Stevens and Jefferson. Please forgive them and ask your churches to recall them as your pastors. Please stand with them as they grow in their ministries and their beliefs and support them because Hashem instructs you to do it. That would be the sweetest blessing my family and I could receive for what I have stood here and said today."
"I will say this, and then I will mind my mother, who is motioning to me that I have said enough: Thank you so much for the gift you helped provide for my, Peyton's, and our brother's children. You were very kind to do that. Your gift has made our ability to transport our children so much easier."
"And speaking of our children, meet Ethan Robert, Abraham Dovid, Mark Anthony, Jason Scott, and David Alexander. The first three children named are our triplets, and the last two are our twins. The large pram in which they are sitting is the gift you so graciously helped provide. Thank you so very much!"
"Pastor Simmons."
As the pastor stepped back in his pulpit, the congregation stood and gave a rousing round of applause.
Just after we all went to the Country Club for lunch and returned home, there was a knock on the door.
As Jaiden answered the door, he was shocked to see Pastors Stevens and Jefferson standing there. "Gentlemen, welcome to our home, please, come in."
"Gentlemen, I believe you already know my husband, Peyton. This beautiful lady is my mother, Dr. Peggy Reynolds, my father-in-law and adopted Dad, Dr. James Riley, and my mother-in-law, Mrs. Phyllis Riley. This gentleman is my Rabbi Rob Kravitz, and the beautiful lady standing next to him is his wife and our Rebbetzin, Allison Kravitz."
Pastor Stevens said, "It is lovely to meet you and to finally see the children about whom we have heard so much."
"We want to apologize for our behavior at the restaurant and to ask for your forgiveness. We were more than out of line with what we said, and we are so very sorry. Thank you for helping us to recognize the error of our ways and correct ourselves."
"Pastors, thank you for your apology; it is accepted, with my apology to you for getting so angry. I was trying to protect the one person I love more than life itself."
"Mr Riley-Reynolds..." "Whoa, stop there. I am plain old Jaiden; he is Peyton. The handsome young man sitting in the chair by the French doors is Dale, and the brilliant ginger-headed fellow is Charley. And lying in front of you is all ten of our children."
"Jaiden, I have to tell you I do admire you for being able to handle and love ten children all at one time. You have to be a blessed person to do that, so very blessed."
"Reverend, without Hashem's love and blessings, we wouldn't be able to do it."
"Jaiden, we were in Pastor Simmons' church this morning when you spoke. You didn't give a speech; you preached one of the best, most challenging sermons I have ever heard. You taught each of us more in one hour than we learned in four-years of seminary. That sermon was delivered so eloquently."
"When you asked our former congregations to forgive us and to recall us as their pastors, that was the most loving form of forgiveness we have ever seen and experienced. I want you to know the Deacon Body from each church was present in the church this morning to hear what you had to say. Before we walked out of the church, they grabbed Pastor Jefferson and me, and we return to our ministries tomorrow morning. Thank you so very much for being the person you are and loving and forgiving us and requesting what you did. Our families were still crying when we left home to come here to thank you."
"Jaiden, we have one request we each would like to make of you: will you please consider coming to our churches and preaching to our congregations what you preached at Erie First this morning?"
"Jaiden looked at Reverends Stevens and Jefferson and said, please excuse me for a moment."
He walked to his bedroom and returned with a calendar that he tossed into Reverend Stevens' lap.
"Reverend Stevens, choose any Sunday next month, and I will be there when you indicate."
"Jaiden, again, thank you! e will excuse ourselves now so you can get back to spending time with your family and friends." When the Reverends got up and started walking to the front door, Peyton stood up and said, "Reverend Stevens and Jefferson, you forgot something."
"I'm sorry, Peyton, what have we forgotten?" Reverend, when you walk out of this house, you walk out as friends, and friends always get a hug when they leave."
Tears started rolling from the eyes of both pastors as they turned and hugged everyone before they left.
Dad said, "Jaiden, Peyton, that was the classiest thing I have ever seen," after the pastors had left. "I am so proud of you for the way you handled the situation, so very proud!" Mom and the Rabbi said, "Ditto."
Jenny and the ladies had stayed downstairs while the pastors were at the house. They came upstairs after Dad said what he did, and they all had tears in their eyes. Jenny said, "Jaiden, Peyton, we all agree with Dad: What you did and how you did it was so classy. We are so proud of you guys; you just don't know!"