And in Calif, we’re saying “no on 8” for the same reasons.

It’s high time this country honored it’s commitment to ‘Liberty, and justice for all’

We’re talking all things romance at the Dr. Romance blog.

Breakfast on the beach
for Tony, © Liesl Garner, October 2008

Breakfast on the beach – a fish fry
and “Try your nets on the other side
of the boat.” Something simple
and absurd, clearly they’d been fishing
both sides all night – yet the nets break
from the catch. They stare in wonder.
What made them willing to try
such a ridiculous suggestion?
Needs were met – basic needs, success
in their livelihood, a renewed sense of awe
and warm food for hungry, exhausted fishermen.

The God I know, the God I read about
in the Bible is always about meeting needs
and turning our best laid plans on end.
He is about changing hearts and reminding
us that what we see and are convinced of,
is sometimes not at all what is going on.

Religious self-righteous have historically
always gotten it wrong.

The learned, the well-read
scholars of scripture
MISSED the coming of Christ – sure it
would look different. Sure he would be mighty,
would overthrow the current government.
Missed completely the gentleness,
the giver, the healer of broken hearts and bodies.

Jesus had harsh words for no one
but the big-time preachers of the time
who couldn’t recognize a miracle
when they saw it; refused the gift
of Messiah standing right before them.
Jealousy for his kinds of crowds
drove them to persecute him.

Today, our big giant churches
and big giant preachers
have become big business.
Big stinky businesses that
have lost their way.
Jesus blessed marriage
with his first miracle
turning water into wine.
Good wine – the best wine
brought out last – the opposite
of how things are usually done,

The God I know, the God I read about
in the Bible is always about surprise
endings, challenging what we think
we know for sure – and meeting needs.

The need to be heard, to be known.
To know our pain does not go unnoticed.
God says he treasures up our tears in a bottle.
He is well aware of our aches,
of when we fall down, and feel defeated.
A tender reed he will not break.
Instead he desires to tend it,
water it, cause it to grow.

He knows our need to be seen
in all our humanness – our foibles,
our frailties, our strengths and our secret
selves – and to be loved anyway.

He yearns to heal the broken hearted
the downtrodden, he doesn’t seek
to judge but to comfort, to carry our burdens
until we can stand tall and brave again.

This is who I worship and cling to
and so it saddens me that my guilty pleasure
is church music. I listen in the car
and I sing my heart out. Yet I cannot
justify how churches treat people these days.

I will be there with bells on
to dance at your wedding. To embrace your joy
and watch your niece or his nephew
come down the aisle all clumsy and nervous
sprinkling rose petals or rushing faster
than the music can keep up
just to get to the front and be done.

Children in ceremonies always
steal the show. But with your warm smile,
your waterfall laugh, and your Oh-so-in-love eyes,
you will absolutely hold the floor.

Every detail of your day will be camera worthy,
not a thing out of place, not a napkin fold off kilter.
You will have thought of everything.
The vows will make us all cry – the toast
will sweep us away. And wine will flow,
and Jesus will continue to bless marriage
with miracles, and surprise endings
and meeting our needs.

© October 25, 2008, Liesl Garner

Here in California, when a prop 8 supporter approached my sister-in-law as she gardened in her yard to ask if she is married, she answered “yes, for 30 years.” He smiled smugly because he thought surely she would understand that marriage is only between a man and a woman. Imagine his surprise as she turned her face upward and said, “Why would I want to deny that kind of love and joy to anyone else?” He then turned and hightailed it out of her yard!

I have no idea what happened with Prop 102. I’m embarrased for the State I live in.