Kirkepiscatoid

I was incredibly morose yesterday after reading this post from Bishop Gene Robinson's blog. I wanted so much to be able to reach across the web and hug the dude!

Gene, if I could sit across the table from you, I would grab both your hands in mine with a big squeeze, stare you smack dab in the face with what my friends call my "serious as a crutch" look, and this is what I'd say...

"Hell, not only will I pray for you, I will not abandon you. I will sit right there in your "hurting place", maybe off in the corner a little, because I don't really know you (I'd leave room closer to you for those who you need closer.) But I will sit there as long as you need me to sit. I know the "hurting place". Sure, the things that make me hurt in it are different than yours, but I know the place. I've bought the souvenir T-shirt from that place.

"I hate that place. It hurts like hell to be in that place, because even if I sit there for someone else, I feel the resonance of my own pain in it. But I will sit there with you in it so you will not be alone. With God's help you will rise above it. Me too--but we'll save my stuff for later. Today is about your stuff, and I will bear your burden on my own dislocated shoulders for as long as you need me. God be with you, my friend I've never met."