"This year, two evangelical ministers who are walking a middle path between outright condemnation and full affirmation of gay people took a booth and surprised those stopping by with apologies.
'I just want to say I'm sorry,' Jason Harper, an assistant pastor from Sacramento, Calif., told a man as he handed him a white rubber bracelet with 'We're Sorry' indented into it.
Harper continued, he is sorry for the way many churches have treated gay people, making them feel like outcasts. The man paused, looked Harper in the eye and thanked him before disappearing.
Harper and Craig Gross wrote a book, 'No Matter Who You Are or What You've Done, Jesus Loves You, This I Know' (Baker Books $17.99), about their experiences with prisoners, porn stars, Las Vegas strip down-and-outers and other strangers to church. They attended Atlanta Pride as part of the book tour. They don't condemn gay people, but they won't affirm a gay relationship as an ideal union. That typically does not come up in their brief apologies.
Renee Randall, a gay Georgia State University student, smiled and chatted with Harper and Gross after an apology.
'I think it's a message that people need to know,' she said after leaving the booth."
Sunday, November 1, 2009
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