Respectfully

 "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." First Amendment of the US Constitution

I love Sunday mornings.

Currently, my Spotify playlist is playing "Christ be Magnified" and I'm singing like I know all the words. I do not.

I'm sipping my Irish Breakfast hot tea.

This wasn't always the case. For those of you with multiple children, I remember the days when "easy like Sunday morning" was a joke.

This morning our Constitution gives me the RIGHT to worship wherever I want.

Or not worship at all.

I have exercised both of those rights over the years. And I've certainly gotten down "wherever I want" as I have probably attended most churches in our county at some point.

I love that for me.

But I also love that for YOU.

BUT - there's always a but right?

With great privilege comes great responsibility. Originally said by Voltaire ( the author, not the bad guys in Twilight) but mostly accredited to the great Spiderman.

Because YOU have the privilege of worshipping, or not, anywhere you want this morning - you also have the responsibility to respect that right of others.

Those who choose to worship in the Catholic faith are mourning the loss of a leader.

A man who was by everyone's account a man of God.

As I scrolled social media this week, I can came across this picture on our country's official site.

This is disrespectful to those mourning.

This is disrespectful to those in the Catholic faith.

For that, we should all be sorry.

Not just for the Americans that are offended, but for those all over the world.

Pope Francis stood for all the things you find in the gospel. He was a leader for those in the margins. He spoke up for the poor, the hungry, the immigrant, the lonely. He advocated for love first. Remember - the greatest of these is love?

Peanut and I have had a lot of talks about how each person gets to choose what, if any, religion they want to participate in.

They get to choose what theology they support and what doctrine they participate in.

I've also told her I fully believe that God gifts us that choice.

I don't think you get to some end of time and God says "Wait - the right answer was "x" denomination so off to hell you go."

I think God is invested in the big picture not whether you dunk or sprinkle or some other fully logistic item.

So I believe God shows up for you in the church you choose because that's what you need.

I respectfully ask, as does our Constitution, that you accept that God shows up for me in the church I choose because it's what I need.

And because of that mutual respect, we do not mock the traditions or beliefs of each other.

We don't AI dress up as the Pope and make fun of people in mourning.

Mama Warriors, it is our job to speak up about these things. It's our job to tell our kids "this is not okay."

Many times in their lives people in power will do things that in their gut do not feel okay. We have to send the message that people in power don't always make the right choices. And when they don't, it's okay to call them on it.

Respectfully.