Normal

I feel normal tonight. We just finished pizza and we're about ready to curl up and watch a movie. This feels like what normal families do on a Friday night, or at least more normal than having races on hikes about who can multiply double digits faster. 

Okay. That feels normal if you're a nerd.

I think of myself as normal. Normal looks like a mom and a dad, a daughter and a son, a dog and a cat in a little house with two cars in the suburbs. It wasn't until later I realized that looks like normal because it was my life and when we are young with limited experience we define normal by ourselves.

The norm for the world is a 28 year old Han-Chinese man.

I'm feeling a little less normal. So much for that nano-second. 

I'm also feeling grief for those who never feel normal. Those who always living on the margins. This week the case around safety for those who are transgender is weighing on me.

I won't lie. In my normal world, the first transgender person I met did not feel normal at all. She was 6'2" and really hairy. She looked like a dude in a dress and it seemed weird. I know that's not politically correct in any sense, but that experience did not move me to engage the fight for transgender rights.

It wasn't until recently that I had my heart transformed. I can't give many details, but it was through knowing a beautiful little girl who tried hard to be a boy because she was born with a penis. We knew her when she was a boy and he was withdrawn and morose. Then she got to be a girl and wear sparkly skirts and twirl and dance. 

Suddenly I feel the great need to protect this girl who finally felt at home in her skin. The thought of her walking into a jr. high boy's bathroom in her sparkles brings tear to my eyes.

I know what happens in bathrooms and playgrounds. Kids are ruthless. I'll never forget the third grader in Michigan who had meningitis and nearly died. When he returned to school with diminished hearing and some other issues, the other kids, "good" kids, punched and yelled in his ears. The things done to him by kids who normally were good kids has cemented my sense that the vulnerable need protection. 

There is something wicked that happens to humanity when we encounter those we consider weak and weird. Our condemnation and belittling feel justified, especially when the church is echoing a message of vilification. 

How we got to that point following a savior who gathered and loved those on the margins and chastised the self-righteous, I do not know.

And it's not just transgender folks who feel especially vulnerable right now. I don't care what your politics are, but I'm called to live as a follower of Jesus, and that norm is always compassion. If I truly follow him then it is to the margins I have to go and walk with those who are most susceptible to the fear and condemnation of otherwise good folks.