Sisters and Brothers…

Grace and peace be with you!  I wrote these words on Oct. 11, 2005 National Coming Out Day.  What a privilege it is to serve the (Gays in Faith Together) GIFT community as a staff chaplain!  One thing I’m discovering more and more about ministry:  God requires our authentic selves!  One of my favorite passages is from the book of Colossians…

        Col. 3: 3-4 “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is your life is, revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory!”  

     Thru this scripture and through my ministry, I’m seeing more and more that my faith can not be revealed until I “come out” of whatever closets I may be in.  Years ago, I was in the closet.  I believed that I had to choose between my faith and my sexual orientation.  I now know that this is not true. 

Who would have thought that the only way for me to fully respond to my call to ministry… the only way for me to fully express my faith would be to come out as a lesbian!  It’s wild, but true!       

“When Christ, who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed.” 

    You see, I couldn’t let Christ come out fully, because if I did, the “real me” would be exposed.  I use to describe myself as conservative… very “law abiding.”  Consequently, the Jesus that was revealed in me was quite the same!  My Jesus was conservative, law-abiding… a “highly restrained Jesus.”  And, we got along quite well, me and my Jesus.   So, one might ask, “What’s wrong with that?  What’s the problem?”  

Well, there were two problems.  First, I was not doing anything of any real value for the kingdom of God.  Secondly, I was living a lie.  I was pretending to be someone else.  For years, I tried to let the “real Jesus” in me come out while I stayed in the closet.  But it didn’t work.  Why? 

When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you are revealed.

   You see, the “real Jesus” in me is glorious love!  The real Jesus in me is all about justice.  The real Jesus in me is a truth-teller.  And, the real Jesus in me is, in many ways, a radical… some may even call him “scandalous!”   This Jesus certainly doesn’t fit a mold of being “closeted”, so to speak.  So I discovered that if I stay in the closet, so does my Jesus.  I was not able to love, fully.  I would not be able to stand for social justice issues… (After all, those things get pretty public!)  Lastly, I would not be able to respond to my call to ministry, because for me, ministry in the closet would be a lie.  

  It breaks my heart to think that so many of us in the LGBT community of faith have been taught that the only way to see Jesus in our lives is to stay in the closet when just the opposite is true.    

Not only should we come out… my brothers and sisters… I believe we have to come out.  The same is true for straight allies.  Why?  Because Jesus cannot be fully revealed in your life … or mine… if we don’t come out speaking and living the truth.  The closet limits and constrains our lives.  The closet keeps the God of love and justice hidden.  The closet, in effect, ties the hands of God in our lives…  

       So, we need to be out, my brothers and sisters.  We all need to come out - gay or straight - from whatever closets that bind us.  If Christ is really going to be revealed in your life and mine, we are going to have to be courageous knowing that the authentic you – the beautiful you - will be revealed!

     Brothers and sisters, my prayer is that GIFT will continue to be a source of support for the LGBT community and its allies.  Moreover, my prayer is that we respond to God’s call to “come out” as people of faith, freeing the transforming power of Christ in us so as to make an eternal difference in the lives of individuals, our community and the church. 

Let it all be so… thanks be to God!