That's the question being asked in this essay from Whosoever Magazine:
Some of us seem to be waiting for an engraved invitation, while others won't leave until the congregation threatens to stone us. One way or the other, we don't seem to have a very good sense of where we belong and where we don't - or, to put it a better way, which churches deserve us and which don't.
Polls consistently show that to know us is to love us. Those who most hate and fear gays think they don't know any. We can't change hearts and minds from afar. My concern, in this essay, is those "borderline" congregations, in which we very likely would be welcome - if we made the effort to be.
I often wonder if GLBT Christians realize how welcome we'd be at many of the churches that do NOT send out engraved invitations. I wonder if they realize why, for some churches, rolling out a rainbow carpet might not be wise - not because they don't want us, but simply because they don't want the trouble they're afraid we will bring with us.
There are a whole lot of nuts out there. Is it worth getting picketed, vandalized, targeted in the wingnut media and possibly even disciplined by the denomination for the sake of issuing a call that might be heeded by no more than a handful of people? That's a question I must admit, if I were a pastor, I'd find hard to answer.
If you're gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender and you want to go to church, the simple fact is that there are many more to choose from than you might think. Most won't hang out a rainbow flag, or take out advertisements. We have to learn to detect them.
How do you feel about that? Do you think there are ample worship opportunities available for you? Would you be willing to stake out a spot in a largely heterosexual congregation or do you need to be with mostly GLBT people to be comfortable and establish a sense of family?
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I'm comfortable where I worship now, both at home and at school. Some of the first people who I talked to about my sexuality were friends the Lutheran Student Community, and one of the first people I talked to was my pastor here. I've been open with the community here, and the community has been very accepting.
ReplyDeleteAt home the situation is a little different (because I'm not as open there), but even in my small town congregation we have a lesbian couple who are members, and one of them served on council while I also served as a youth member a few years ago. It seems that, even in such a relatively conservative congregation, members are willing to treat people as just that--people. Even if they don't necesarily agree with what they view as just a "lifestyle" (and some of them certainly take that perspective), they are, for the most part, willing to "look past it" and see another child of God.
As a new transplant from Northern Virginia to New Mexico, and as a lesbian who believes in the power of God's Word and in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, I can say it's been tough out here to find a body of believers who are vibrant in worship and committed to the unvarnished truth of God's Word, without also finding bigotry. If I find a congregation who are accepting of my sexuality, they are a "dead church" in spiritual terms. What a sad thing! That's why I'm glad that Jim's church and others are reaching out over the internet. At least I can worship with them from afar. Smile.
ReplyDeleteSharone