March 31, 2023
As we end the first quarter of this year, I am stunned by the violence and the hatred so many have experienced in our communities these months. Worse, our public discourse is littered with words and images of hate and threats of violence, many directed toward specific communities based on ethnicity, gender identity, and sexual identity.
In many instances, these conversations are related to proposed legislation and recently enacted laws. On this day, recognized as the Transgender Day of Visibility, it is painful to recognize how many of these bills directly target transgender and queer individuals, especially trans and queer youth. Across the country, and in the four states of our region, laws have been considered – and some enacted – related to medical care that our transgender siblings can receive, what bathrooms they are required to use, and how they may be treated and spoken about in educational settings. This legislation seems to have emboldened many people to express hate more openly and more often.
I lament that too many of us seem to have hearts of stone in the face of these words and actions. Our trans and queer siblings, especially those who are young, are already a vulnerable group. Now they face more anxiety and fear due to the threats and implications of this rhetoric and these laws. Individuals and families are even considering whether they need to move to other states in search of safety and medical care.
This situation demands some specific things from followers of Jesus Christ. There are people in our communities who are hurting and scared – some are members of our congregations; some are friends and family members; some we don’t yet know. We must find ways to share concern and compassion with them. We have a great opportunity to be part of God’s promise in these harrowing days – to lovingly be the full community God envisioned and created. With such deep hurts and fears, including some exacerbated by people of faith, we likely need to share our compassion and love multiple times in a variety of ways.
In a larger sense, our Christian understanding of humanity is being challenged. Hateful and fear-filled words and actions are stripping away key pieces of some people’s humanity, suggesting that they are “less than” others. Implicit in this is also a misguided belief that some are “more than” others. I simply do not find such attitudes in Jesus’ teaching – quite the opposite. Repeatedly, Jesus demonstrates the fullness of humanity of each and every person he meets – Jesus values women and children as much as men, fishermen as much as tax collectors, those physically and mentally ill as much as able-bodied, those seemingly outcast and discarded by the wider society as much as exalted religious and political leaders.
Christians describe this equal valuing of people in many ways. Often, we recognize that each and every person is a child of God and that together we are all children of God. If we don’t quite fathom what it means for every human being to be created in the image of God, we still celebrate that a bit of God’s love, wisdom, and possibility exists in each of us and in every person we meet.
To be sure, there have been times when societies and nations – and even the church – have not valued all of God’s children. But many people of faith have strived to better live into God’s dreams for us. Over the years, the General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has frequently expressed ways for the church to value the God-given humanity of everyone, including multiple resolutions in the past decade. Most recently in 2019, General Assembly resolution 1929 explicitly called for the church to live this out by fully “welcoming and receiving the gifts of transgender and gender-diverse people.” This is just one specific part of the larger vision expressed in 2013 in General Assembly resolution 1327, which “calls upon the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to recognize itself as striving to become a people of grace and welcome to all God’s children though differing in race, gender, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, nationality, ethnicity, marital status, physical or mental ability, political stance or theological perspective.”
This larger vision explicitly recognizes a key part of our heritage: we do not always agree with one another on every issue. I recognize that not all of us agree politically or theologically, including about some matters related to sexual identity and gender identity. Still, we covenant to find unity in things that are essential and charity in things that are not. What is essential here? For me, it includes two specific things I have already emphasized: we are called to reach out with compassion and love to those who are hurting, and we are called to recognize and celebrate how God values each and every person without qualification or exception.
In a very practical way, we have the opportunity as Christ’s church to proclaim a different way of being through our words and actions. Against a tribalistic culture that repeatedly divides into groups of “us” and “them,” we strive to be one church honoring God’s presence even with sometimes passionate disagreements. We have an opportunity to proclaim – loudly and repeatedly – God’s love and value for each and every single one of God’s people.
There is a misguided perversion of theology that has been heard by too many in our world which we must loudly and directly counter. God’s love is never conditional. God doesn’t love people if they do certain things or when they change. And it is never our role as people of faith to stand between people and God until the people have “fixed themselves” and made them worthy of entering God’s presence. Our role is to recognize and celebrate that God is already here – present among all of the children of God – and humbly invite one another to experience all of the acceptance, forgiveness, encouragement, comfort, and hope that God generously shares. God loves. GOD LOVES! In this season, against a cacophony of other voices, we explicitly say: God loves trans people! God loves queer people! God loves you just as you are. And God has dreams for all the lives you’ll touch and all the good you can and will do through the fullness of your identity as a fearfully and wonderfully made child of God.
As our General Minister and President, Rev. Terri Hord Owens, frequently encourages us, now is the time to be the church we say we are. We need to do more than simply welcome. We need to truly be a sanctuary – a safe space where those who are in fear for themselves and for their loved ones. Some of us will take part in public action, reaching out to government officials to advocate for the full humanity of each person in our community. Some will take extra time to directly support and love. I hope that all of us, true to our tradition as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) will gather at the Lord’s Table without exclusion – praying together, serving and being served by one another, recognizing Jesus in our midst and striving to keep his great commandment to love one another.
May God bless our service and our witness these holiest of days.
Rev. Joshua J. Patty
Regional Minister and President
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the Upper Midwest
