Spiritual Ponderings from the 9/25/22 Bulletin.

Here are five more items that I would add to Fr. Elliott’s list in the bulletin: 
1.           The first thing we should do is pray to God.  We need to ask God for the wisdom to know what His will is for us in this situation and for the courage and strength to do it.  As human beings, tainted by original sin, we all bring with us certain spiritual and mental baggage (stereotypes, fears, etc.)  We need to ask God to help us to be guided by His love and not by our baggage.
2.           The second thing we should do is pray for the individual who is experiencing the gender issues.
3.           Always speak respectfully to the other person no matter how he or she speaks to you.  Every human person deserves respect, and we sin anytime we respond to someone in a disrespectful manner.
4.           Listening is a big thing. Listen to the person’s story. They need someone to receive them, in the midst of all they experience, and help them figure out: “What does it mean for me to follow Jesus in the midst of this experience?” As we listen to them, we start to discover God is already at work here, in some ways and it can be helpful for a person to hear that, “God is at work in your life.”
5.           You may try the Welcome-Affirm-Ask model when addressing this or other difficult issues:
Welcome: welcome the person, whatever their experience may be. Jesus wants to meet them.
Affirm: affirm where you see God already active in their life. Don’t presume God is absent because they struggle with something.
Ask: ask what it means for them to follow Jesus. That says, “Let’s figure this out together.”