Previous posts have highlighted the pain LGBT+ people still experience, bemoaned our culture’s fear of close, same-sex friendship, criticized the alternative the church offers to romantic same-sex relationships, and given voice to the exhaustion of many. But as followers of Christ, we strive to honor feelings of pain, fear, and injustice while focusing on the hope found in a resurrected Lord and the power provided by the Holy Spirit.
So what should the Church become?
A place where sexual minorities can…
…find acceptance and unconditional love
…talk about their experiences without shame
…find meaningful, intimate community
…worship, pray, and take communion with us
…share meals and sadness and celebration with us
…work out their faith alongside us
And how do we do this?
We must talk about the brokenness of humanity from an early age—that all people are broken and have brokenesses that won’t be resolved in this lifetime. We must teach that marriage is not promised and not everyone will exclusively experience opposite-sex attraction, but God desires good things for all people. We must invite people to share their story, identify with others of the same story, find community in that kinship, and find purpose in advocating for each other. We must value the unique perspectives and gifts sexual minorities can offer the Body of Christ. We must truly value healthy, meaningful friendships and practice them in our community. And we must do all of this without shame, fear, silence, or a false promise that a person’s same-sex attraction will go away.
This next series of posts will explore how we must think differently and how we must love differently so that we can become the Church where sexual minorities belong.Â
