I love this line: "I am not afraid of God. This is perhaps the most meaningful outcome of my longstanding relationships with members of the LGBTQIA+ community." Many queer Christians have done an incredibly good work of helping so many people experience a holistic transformation of what it means to experience God in the world.
"Holistic transformation," yes that's right. My whole conception of the world has changed by encountering queerness, because I see God as queer, in the sense that God will not be contained within our limited ideas of right/wrong. God is more mysterious and beautiful than could ever be defined.
It is beautiful how God transformed a difficult and uncomfortable experience into one of joy. I have similar experiences in my own understanding of the LGBTQiA community and racism in society. In each experience, ideas in mainline and fundamentalist talk did not sit right with me, but I did not know what to do with those troubling ideas. For racism, I buried them for a long time. My acceptance of the LGBTQ community came when our church called a priest who is gay. I struggled, read Scripture, read other resources and prayed. After years of struggle, over the course of one weekend, the Holy Spirit clearly spoke to my heart and told me all is well. We are all beloved children of God. I have never doubted again. God loves each one of us, no matter what.
Thank you so much for sharing, Colleen. Not knowing what to do with those ideas that don't sit well with our spirits can be such an isolating thing, and I'm so glad you had the chance to unpack your ideas knowing that your community was undergoing an opportunity for discernment. So often it is relationship that causes us to unearth the ideas we held -- often without even being aware of it. What a gift to have that peace from the Spirit that all was well.
I love this line: "I am not afraid of God. This is perhaps the most meaningful outcome of my longstanding relationships with members of the LGBTQIA+ community." Many queer Christians have done an incredibly good work of helping so many people experience a holistic transformation of what it means to experience God in the world.
"Holistic transformation," yes that's right. My whole conception of the world has changed by encountering queerness, because I see God as queer, in the sense that God will not be contained within our limited ideas of right/wrong. God is more mysterious and beautiful than could ever be defined.
It is beautiful how God transformed a difficult and uncomfortable experience into one of joy. I have similar experiences in my own understanding of the LGBTQiA community and racism in society. In each experience, ideas in mainline and fundamentalist talk did not sit right with me, but I did not know what to do with those troubling ideas. For racism, I buried them for a long time. My acceptance of the LGBTQ community came when our church called a priest who is gay. I struggled, read Scripture, read other resources and prayed. After years of struggle, over the course of one weekend, the Holy Spirit clearly spoke to my heart and told me all is well. We are all beloved children of God. I have never doubted again. God loves each one of us, no matter what.
Thank you so much for sharing, Colleen. Not knowing what to do with those ideas that don't sit well with our spirits can be such an isolating thing, and I'm so glad you had the chance to unpack your ideas knowing that your community was undergoing an opportunity for discernment. So often it is relationship that causes us to unearth the ideas we held -- often without even being aware of it. What a gift to have that peace from the Spirit that all was well.