Police vans and a prayer for peace

Stefan and I didn't make it to the meeting on Tuesday night, so no update from that. I was totally exhausted and he got hit with a lot at school this week so was up late grading. He's also one of the union reps, so when teachers have problems, they ask to him to sort things out - there have been a few ongoing things that mushroomed this week requiring his diplomacy skills.

Beginning today we have a 4 day weekend here in Germany - Christ's Ascension holidays. So yesterday after school we went and bought the paint for the new apartment for a 4 day project. Our new home is just a few blocks away from the city's main police station, and when we drove by we noticed over 30 police vans in their parking lot and lots of policemen walking around. Turns out last night was supposed to be a big protest night against this conference. So after taping and prepping the rooms, we decided to do a drive through town to see if anything was up before calling it a night. As we passed the police station we noticed all of the vans were gone, but as we drove through town we definitely noticed a strong police presence and vans everywhere. No protesters to be seen, however.

Tonight may be a different story. The Thursday night service our church has is held up in the old city, in one of the cathedrals. It tends to be a more low key, outreach oriented service and tends to attract lots of visitors, especially on holiday weekends like this one. Police have already talked with church leaders to help them prepare for potential interruptions and to assure us that they will be in close proximity and will respond quickly if needed. Many people were requested to sign up to watch the doors and pray for a peaceful service. Stefan and I plan to attend tonight and are praying for peace tonight and during the course of the weekend.

Why all the protesting? I just don't understand it myself. This country has what is known as the Basic Law, which is very similar to the US Constitution. The anti-conference crowd is basically saying the city shouldn't allow this conference to meet - which is directly against the "right to meet and gather" section of law. Freedom of belief and thought are also being attacked.

This conference is one for those Christians working in psychology and counseling. The theme is "Identity". There are no topics on homosexuality being presented or discussed - that's not what this conference is about. yet it's the gay and lesbian community who are all up in arms over this conference, calling it the "Homo-Healer Conference". But it's not even about that! We're a little unsure about how this whole protest thing started. It's also strange because even if the conference were about this issue, patients can't receive care unless they ASK for it. And no psychologist/counselor ever forces anybody to do or think anything, that's the whole point of it, right?

When I was babysitting on Monday afternoon I had to walk the 3yr old down to pick her big brother up from soccer practice. Some of the homes in her (nice) neighborhood had been spraypainted with "Stop the conference!" and "Stop homophobia!" She noticed the ugly painting and each time stopped to ask me what it said and why somebody would mess up somebody's house. Graffiti has always been a problem here, but not in neighborhoods like this one, and not with statements like those. Of course, there is nothing 'homophobic' about this conference either. And the fact that these protest groups take to illegal activities doesn't add to their credibility either.

It is messy. It is encouraging to know that Christians across town, Catholic, Protestant, both liberal and conservatives, joined together to pray about this situation. Please pray today and throughout the weekend as these waters are navigated in a heated town. Praise be for the conversations this will spur and hopefully develop some understanding from both sides.

I like the words that Gordon Hugenberger of Park Street Church in Boston (formally of Lanesville) sent our way:

"We are in prayer for you. I am afraid that there is little a church can do to placate ardently pro-gay advocates if it is to remain faithful to Scripture. But I will say that sometimes it helps lower the temperature (although it still does not solve the problem) to stress that your church loves and accepts every single person exactly as they are. The fact is you believe that Jesus loves and welcomes every one of us, whoever we are, just as we are. But He also loves every one of us too much to leave us as we are.

If more needs to be said, i also often mention that as a church we are strongly in support of civil rights of homosexuals and we deplore hate crimes of any kind, harassment, disrespect, and bigotry of any kind. We have no interest in forcing anyone to change. But we refuse to mock or condemn, as some groups do, those in our church or community who want Jesus' forgiveness and help to change their sexual behavior and live in greater obedience to His will, whether they are heterosexual or homosexual."

Very true and I'd say this is the attitude shared by those in our church here in Germany.