“You are going to hell!” I hated people damning me to hell. There was always something about someone speaking me into a fiery torment for all of eternity that was the ultimate “fuck you.” I am not there anymore. This morning after yet another incident of being damned, I realized I get told I am going to hell the most when I feel the closest to God. The epiphany changed everything.
From poverty to sickness to racism to violence to sexism, there are a whole host of variables that create a living hell for people throughout our world. I think that most of us have forgotten about or don’t care about the hell that people are going through. Jesus cast his lot with the least of these who find their self in hell…meaning the least of these amongst us are the very incarnation of God. The living hell that people experience is where God is.
The conversation I had this morning surrounded the topic of human sexuality. Someone thinks I am going to hell for describing myself as a queer person. To top that, I was also told that I was marching my three sons to hell too. I was so angry until Jesus came to me. “I am in hell” came the measured words of my savior. The love of God never ceases to amaze me. I realized that I am called to go to hell too.
Now is the time for the church to go to hell…to locate our mission and vision in the very place where God said that God would be. So let’s all go to hell and trust that there is no more loving or just place to be than in the flames working for the restoration of all things with God.
Amen.
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