hey everybody welcome to ascension
presents my name is jackie angel and i'm
joined by my friend kim zember
and we're going to talk about should i
attend a same-sex wedding
all right kim you get this question a
lot because you when you share your
testimony
about living a life of same-sex
attraction people come up to you
a lot of parents a lot of people enjoy
people parents
i mean young people all over yeah and
they asked the question
should i attend like i have a friend i
have a daughter i have a
sister that's right yeah best friend um
should i
attend their same-sex wedding so what do
you say
because this is a this is a really yeah
well i don't know if you can see but
like i took a deep breath and the only
reason
is because right jesus was always
sensitive to people
right there's a sensitivity that doesn't
mean an acceptance
of all action but i just i and i know
that's your heart as well the response
that i
do usually give is it's always about
relationship right so if you've been
invited to a
wedding of any type you usually know the
people right
and so you have a relationship with the
person and i believe it's a conversation
if
you as a catholic a christian are
invited to
a same-sex ceremony i believe you have a
responsibility
you have no you have an invitation
to stand for the gospel and to stand for
those
two people who you love for their soul
and that is a really hard thing to do it
is not
enjoyable um it is tough it can
break relationship it can strengthen
relationship but i think it falls back
on you as the person who is invited you
are invited
out of love and for love and so now how
are you going to respond
in love and i think that having a
conversation
um with maybe maybe one of the people is
the one you're close with
um to sit down and just say i'm really
torn i
love you like i love you and
i love god and i don't know what to do
in this and just be authentic with what
you're struggling with
and that you want to support them you
love them you want to support them but
you are having a hard time supporting
what they're doing
what they're choosing to do because
there's the difference right there is
the difference and i know this is so
hard
i mean it's something i've had to the
lord has so gently
reconciled in my own life right with my
own struggles um
but that loving someone doesn't mean
loving everything they do
right and so i think that is where it
comes down to this you guys
do you want to support and let's let's
take it off for a second
off of marriage or um and and look at
do i support my friend who is doing you
know having pre-marital sex
living living with her boyfriend or
girlfriend right and so we've got to
look at
we've got to look at sin all across the
board and
and we're talking now about marriage
right we're talking about
something that god created between man
and woman
right and so i cannot
i ask the lord to help me to not ever
support
anything that he doesn't support right
because then i'm
actually not going and i'm not really
loving the person because i'm not
actually desiring heaven for them and so
that is really hard and it's it's a
tough conversation
but i think the key word is that is
conversation it's not you
speaking at someone and saying you know
what what you're doing is wrong and did
it no that's not
no like have a conversation let them ask
questions
ask how does this make you feel like i i
i would imagine this hurts you hearing
what i'm saying but i i love you and i
want to talk to you
i want to hear what you have to say and
it's not it's it's not an argument it's
it's
really it's it's intimate and cause
imagine if it's your sister
say you had a sister she had a sister
but so you had a sister who
was getting married to another woman
what would you say conversation would be
the same
because love is love across the board in
the sense of not as the world says love
is love yeah the world says love
the way i am gonna love you jackie would
be the way i'm called to also love my
sister who was
born into my family and i will say this
when i was dating women
my mom i asked her point blank i was
like mom
if i get married would you come to the
wedding and she said
kim i wouldn't she said i i love you
but because i love you and i love
i care for you to eternity not just with
the smile on your face
and she said and it would be one of the
hardest things that i would have to do
but love lays itself down
and she said and i said but mom i would
be angry
you know what i mean like that would
that could ruin our relationship
and she said i'm willing to take that
risk because i love you and i love your
soul
and dang it mom's ember and you probably
were i hated it you were angry yeah
it was it was it was a horrible feeling
but
you know to be honest because a lot of
me was defensive but i could actually
hear what she was saying though and i
can hear it better now
right after you've had a conversion yeah
yeah yeah but in that you know it is
hard you guys and don't treat it lightly
don't be like well
it's wrong i'm not going no like this is
an opportunity
to speak life into the person that you
love that that loves you enough to
invite you
right to this ceremony and so i think
giving that respect
back to them is so important this is not
a just
hard line of nope nope nope yep yep
no like let's talk let's really get into
this and
and it might be uncomfortable it was
uncomfortable between my mom and i it
will
pretty much be uncomfortable yeah but it
does strengthen and i think that's in
any relationship you guys and and i
would like i said i would say the same
to someone who's living together if
they're like you know hey we
we're gonna have a housewarming party
and this and that and they're not
married
look are you going and you celebrating
that and and i pray that you'd have that
same conversation
and you'd come to the same result
because if you don't then i think what
we're doing
is we're starting to separate sins and
we have to be careful
exactly this is not just about same-sex
like
marriage and i think that the whole even
living together
because if you're i mean i have a friend
who she will talk to her friends about
that like listen this is not
okay and she's lost friendships
absolutely it's like
who what are we worshiping who do we
love most and
i try to teach my children like i want
to love god the most and i tell my
children like i want you to love god
more than me yes there was more than me
there was a woman she would tell her
grandchildren i love you second
their whole their whole life grew up i
love you second and finally when they
got old enough
they said grandma what does that mean
and she says we are all called to love
jesus first because when we love
jesus first we can love each other right
exactly
exactly and so you guys this is going to
be again there are absolutely times that
being
a christian being a catholic christian
is going to be so difficult and i feel
like these are the moments
that yeah it's like these are the
defining moments of our
and it doesn't mean it doesn't mean that
if you've gone to a same-sex ceremony
that now you're not christian
please jesus doesn't just cuddle
yourself come up but you know what i
mean yeah but it it
i pray that these type videos and these
conversations that we're willing to have
that jackie's willing to have that i'm
willing to have
and that we're willing to put out there
are bringing you to a place to take it
to the lord to get into the word
right and and to then have some
conversations with people in your lives
whether it be same sex whether it be
opposite sex whatever right
we're talking again about about sinful
actions
not a sinful person sinful actions that
we do we are sinful people because of
what we do and so i
just never forgetting never forgetting
to separate
who someone is from what they're
choosing to do and so keeping that in
light um to
to walk in truth and in love and have
these difficult conversations that will
if you persevere and pray and ask the
holy spirit i mean perseverance is just
praying the rosary and well
you know one of them was perseverance
right the fruit of the mystery and so
for me
it's like we need to be able to
persevere in these times and it's the
times where the lord says
you know be willing just to walk away
from mother brother you know sister all
of that it's like
i can't even tell my friend that i'm not
going to go to a ceremony
like i want to love the lord first
and then i'll be able to love everybody
else right and so
in that light so yeah so i would say
yeah pray first like absolutely pray
ask the holy spirit to guide you and
give you courage any any tough
conversation
that's really should be the first like
pray ask for courage and ask the holy
spirit to guide you ask mama mary to be
with you
because you guys it's it's but i feel
like especially if it's a family member
oh yeah that's uh yeah it's gonna be
it's gonna be a tough conversation
and i will say this when you say family
member like i said my own mom
but to this day i'm thankful i am truly
thankful and i wasn't then
and and it did create some separation
but now we are stronger because of those
conversations that were really tough for
her to have she had to take the chance
of her daughter walking away and she did
and she did it for christ she didn't do
it to be right
she did it for christ and his love for
me and her love for me
thank you kim for sharing thank you guys
for joining us um
like comment subscribe i'm sure your
comments are going to be very
interesting hang on but again we're
called to love
yeah love love love every person um and
to lead people to heaven so thank you
for joining us we'll see you next time
you