An Open Letter to My Transgender Sisters and Brothers
I am a Christian cisgender
pastor in a heterosexual marriage and I serve a local United Church of Christ
congregation in Ann Arbor, MI.
I want to apologize to you.
I want to apologize that too many Christians are choosing fear and
hate over love and compassion. I want to apologize for the awful and
intentional mischaracterizations of you. I want to apologize that this
detestable rhetoric is being directed toward our children, and not
only that, some of our most vulnerable children.
I want to apologize that all of this is being done in the name of Christ.
Once again, our Bible has been
weaponized and has been turned against you. This battering has been and will
continue to be relentless. The message of Jesus is being distorted to demean
you and your families. The people who preach love are turning their backs on
you and they are enshrining hatred into our state governments and school
districts. And far, far too often, all of this spills over into violence...too
many precious lives have been lost.
My heart breaks for you and
your families, and I believe that God’s heart does too.
Jesus spent his life reaching out
to those in his world who were deemed unworthy or distasteful. He repeatedly
challenged the religious and political “authorities” who worked to enforce the
social norms that cast God’s people aside. He broke religious and political law
when he reached out and touched a leper, ate with tax collectors and stood in
solidarity with the adulterous woman. The Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) is filled
with commands to take care of the poor and to provide hospitality to the
immigrant. The Bible has much, much more to say about compassion, justice and
love than it does about who is worthy and who isn’t. Don’t let anyone tell you
different.
God doesn’t want you to suffer. God
doesn’t worry about whether your assigned biological sex matches your gender
identity. God doesn’t think that you are an abomination or a mistake. God
doesn’t want you to conform to binary gender norms if it hurts your heart and
your soul to do so.
God wants you to be you without
condition. God celebrates you. God wants nothing but for you to be happy and
content and safe.
As we say in my
congregation (stealing from Mother Teresa),
God loves you with a Love that will not let you go.
There are many Christians that stand in solidarity with you. There are thousands and thousands and thousands. I know it often doesn’t feel like it. We don’t shout as loudly and we are not well-funded, but we are here.
There are many Christians that stand in solidarity with you. There are thousands and thousands and thousands. I know it often doesn’t feel like it. We don’t shout as loudly and we are not well-funded, but we are here.
We are with you because
that is what Jesus would do.
Follow Deborah Dean-Ware on Twitter: www.twitter.com/GoodShepherdUCC
No comments:
Post a Comment