How to discuss the truth that some men love men,
and some women, women, and some, both,
with the children in the church school and church home?
Nonchalantly.
Without drum-rolls.
Without tip-toe preparations.
Without calculating and predicting to the nth degree.
With candor.
With open ears.
With unfailing tenderness.
With one foot in the Realm of God
and the other foot on that solid earth
made of the ashes of Radclyffe-Hall, Auden, DaVinci,
Emma Goldman, Susan B. Anthony and Mark De Wolfe.
With real hope in our purpose
and thanksgiving in our pulse.
With the full iris of our living tradition in the eye.
Without using the inherited Augustinian scalpel
that splits flesh from spirit and pleasure from good.
Without homilies on toleration.
With the words “some of us” and not the words “them” and “they.”
With as much heart as intellect.
Without embarrassment.
With stories and examples as wonderful as a tale by Seuss.
With rhapsodies on the glories of friendship.
With gladness for uncertainties.
With joy.