Last Thursday, June 2nd, I had a chance to see Shane Claiborne speak at Imago Dei Community. I won't rehash his entire history - you can read much about it here, and it's well worth the click.

He and several friends did a study among people who are not Christians, trying to find out their perceptions of people who call themselves Christians. The three top results: 1) Christians are anti-gay. 2) Christians are judgmental. 3) Christians are hypocrites.

At the end of the night, he took questions from the audience. That didn't spark my interest, so I started to head toward the door. I was about to exit when I heard the word "homophobia" come over the speakers.

My curiosity got the better of me, so I slipped into the back row again. A woman in her 50s with short grey hair stood at the microphone, tears rolling down her face. She brokenly asked how she was supposed to fit in at a church that said she should be killed or maimed for being a lesbian. She wasn't angry, I didn't think. She seemed searching. Sad. Trying to find a place.

Chills shot up my spine at her courage. There were hundreds of people in the audience who I'm sure she thought hated her. However, she stood up, owned her truth, and asked if she could find acceptance.

A figure slipped from the line in front of the microphone nearest me. A young girl, maybe in her 20s, clad in black and wearing a black beret, slipped across the front and back down the aisle where the woman had walked back to her seat. The young girl gave the older a long embrace, and then walked back to the other microphone.

Tears gathered in my eyes.

Shane pointed out that those closest to Jesus were the most broken: prostitutes, tax collectors, rough fishermen. Jesus reserved his harshest words for the religious elite.

It was a powerful, beautiful moment that has stayed with me since then. Shane's words urged Christians to find a deeper, more authentic faith, and the girl in the beret put feet to that thought.