With her faith-filled, articulate and compassionate commentary in the Feb. 17 News Tribune, the Rev. Kathryn Nelson demonstrated once again she walks and talks one language. Nelson wrote "God's people accept everyone as they are" in response to the Feb. 3 column, "The Gospel can bring change into homosexuals' lives."
Her column reflected the love of our creator and demonstrated her leadership in her supportive congregation, Peace United Church of Christ. I was reminded that her church's acceptance of the GLBT community is just one of many ways it is a light in the Duluth community. Pastor and congregation are often present at various forums where people are helped by the inclusion of many voices.
It's significant to reflect that at some point the Rev. Nelson must have needed courage to speak about an issue hardly considered popular. I am always reminded in her presence of the parable of the Good Samaritan. In the story, a man is set upon by thieves and left to die. It is a Samaritan man, considered by Jewish standards at that time an outcast and a "marginalized" person, who stops to help. Scripture specifically mentions a priest and a Levite (the Hebrew priestly tribe) who miss the opportunity to open their hearts to this hurting and wounded individual.
It is the Samaritan who sees his needs, binds his wounds, and restores his life.
I don't know how much clearer Jesus could have been than in that parable. Peace United Church of Christ and several other religious communities have grasped that clarity. Their radical hospitality has not gone unnoticed. The church and the Rev. Nelson are a call to the rest of us to affirm the rights and dignity of these, our brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters, by offering them sanctuary in our places of worship, for we are all one body.
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Mary Claire Sitek
Duluth
