Encouraging Words 1/12/10-"Lighten Up"

Here's an excerpt from an inspiring essay from Candace Chellew-Hodge, publisher of Whosoever.org:

Well, speaking to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people in particular - our world is so dark because we have been told so many times, by so many people who claim some manner of authority over us, that the last thing we could offer the world is light. They tell us that perhaps if we change our sexual orientation or gender identity that we could shine a light in the world - a "light" of "redemption" from our lives of "sin." If we change, then we'll have some light to shine - until then, we're as dark as a Montana cavern - offering nothing but blinding blackness.



But, even in the darkest night - even in the hearts deemed to be the darkest by some people in the world, there is light. Even if we can't perceive it, or we're told that we're mistaken to think it - we each carry light within us. Our job is the same as John the Baptist's - to testify to that light.


Those who claim LGBT people have no light to share have themselves fallen in the trap of misunderstanding the light. They have become a light unto themselves. They have decided that they know how God thinks and how God would act. Of course God hates LGBT people. They hate them and God would naturally hate what they hate. This is the temptation of light - to think that once we see it, we can own it, focus it and make it a personal possession.

Click here to read the rest of the essay.