{"id":1206,"date":"2011-05-18T01:44:27","date_gmt":"2011-05-18T01:44:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/wildgoosefestival\/?p=1206"},"modified":"2011-05-18T01:44:27","modified_gmt":"2011-05-18T01:44:27","slug":"the-gift-of-tears-hugh-hollowell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildgoosefestival\/2011\/05\/the-gift-of-tears-hugh-hollowell\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gift of Tears – Hugh Hollowell"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Several years ago, I was speaking at an event. It was a large secular audience, so I gave my mostly secular talk.\u00a0In that talk, I mentioned I run a faith based organization<\/a>. I also used the example of gay marriage as a way that relationships change how we feel about \u201cthe other.\u201d That is really all I said about gay marriage, or homosexuality or really, anything about my own faith.<\/p>\n

(You can pause now and watch this talk, if you\u2019d like. I\u2019ll wait.)<\/p>\n<\/iframe>\nWhen I got finished with my talk, I made a beeline for the bathroom (nerves, you know). I\u2019m standing at the sink, washing my hands when a guy walks in and over to me.<\/p>\n\u201cAre you gay?\u201d he asks.<\/p>\nI tell him I\u2019m not.<\/p>\n\u201cBut gay homeless people \u2013 you help them, right?\u201d<\/p>\nI tell him I do.<\/p>\n\u201cAnd you\u2019re a Christian, right?\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cRight.\u201d<\/p>\nHe looks me dead in the eye and says \u201cI did not know you could be Christian and help gay people\u201d.<\/p>\nOver the next few minutes, standing in that bathroom, he tells me how his family has ostracized him because he came out to them. How they are very religious and because of them, he no longer wants anything to do with the church.<\/p>\n\u201cI hate the church. After everything they have done to me and my friends, I can\u2019t stand their hypocrisy and their self-righteous attitude.\u201d<\/p>\nI told him I did not blame him a bit. He asked if he could hug me. I said yes.<\/p>\nIn that bathroom, with tears in both our eyes, he hugs me and says thank you for being willing to help everybody, including gay people. He turns and walks for the door.<\/p>\nHand on the door, he turns back and says \u201cYou know, it\u2019s strange. I hate the church. You can\u2019t pay me to go back there. But I really miss Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\nThen he turned, pushed through the door and was gone.<\/p>\n* * *<\/p>\nI think about that guy a lot. When I catch flack for helping and loving everyone without preconditions, I remember him and the gift of his tears drying on my shirt as I walked out of that bathroom. And I remember that while he hated the church, he missed Jesus.<\/p>\nWhich is why, when Gareth Higgins asked me if I wanted to be part of the team for the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/wildgoosefestival.org\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Wild Goose Festival<\/a>, I had a lot of questions. Questions about who is welcome, and who gets to talk and if there would be room for people who hate the church but miss Jesus.<\/p>\nThis June, a bunch of us are meeting in Shakori Hills, North Carolina (just about an hour outside Raleigh-Durham). We are throwing a three day\u00a0<a title=\"Trailer for the Wild Goose Festival\" href=\"http:\/\/vimeo.com\/21378230\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">art, music and justice festival<\/a>, rooted in the Christian tradition and welcome to everyone. Especially to people who miss Jesus, but have\u00a0problems\u00a0with some of his followers.<\/p>\nHugh Hollowell is a writer, speaker and bootleg preacher based in Raleigh, NC. He is the founder and director of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/lovewins.info\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">Love Wins Ministries<\/a>, where they tackle the problems of homelessness by focusing on relationships, not outcomes.<\/em><\/p>\nGet your Limited Advance tickets <a href=\"http:\/\/wildgoose.eventbrite.com\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Several years ago, I was speaking at an event. It was a large secular audience, so I gave my mostly secular talk.\u00a0In that talk, I mentioned I run a faith based organization. I also used the example of gay marriage as a way that relationships change how we feel about \u201cthe other.\u201d That is really […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":274,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[116,151,256,291],"class_list":["post-1206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-hugh-hollowell","tag-love-wins","tag-tedx","tag-wild-goose-festival"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>The Gift of Tears - Hugh Hollowell<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Several years ago, I was speaking at an event. 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