Tonight I listened to a Webinar by the wonderful folks at Queer Theology! As I listened and read comments, I felt sad to see so many brothers and sisters of Faith, who much like myself lost their "Community of Faith" because of their gender identity or sexuality. I grew up in the Southern Baptist Church. I served in Souther Baptist ministry as a worship leader for well over 10 years. I went on mission trips, I did outreach, I taught VBS, and I lead and attended Bible Studies, Discipleship Classes, Retreats, Camps and whatever event you can think of. I love Jesus! I have studied in depth what His word says. I know, and love a God that is bigger than the fear of those in my community, who shun me because they don't understand my gender or sexual orientation.
I find myself perplexed by this response of fear. Do you not know? Have you not read your bible? Galatians 3:28-29 says "28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise."
My Gender does not conflict with your beliefs, in fact your belief has no gender associated! It is by definition non binary.
When I was in my 20's I met a distant cousin by the name of Gail. He was a kind older gentleman. A retired Methodist Preacher. At our first meeting, we spoke about ministry, and Jesus, and gender and I will never forget his words. Mind you, this man and I had never met, and I was not out as transgender. He looked at me and said "Remember that in Christ we are neither Male nor Female, and God has big plans for you. Just keep following Him"
I almost cried hearing Gail say these words, it was as if the Lord was speaking out loud to me. My soul felt it's worth, in the words of that Christmas Song. In that moment, I was unable to hide who I was from the One who created me. Even if no one else knew, God knew that I was Asher all along. That is the way He created me. Once more, He had a plan for me all along.
Every time I saw Gail, he repeated similar words to me. He would always says "when you start your own church, you are gonna bring me on as you associate pastor right"
Shortly after I started my transition, Gail went to be with the Lord. A few months ago, I got the opportunity to sit and have coffee with his wife. As we spoke, I could see she struggled to understand my transition, and as we spoke, I told her of what a wonderful blessing Gail had been to me. How grateful I am that he was willing to be a vessel that the Lord could speak through, in a time in my life when I needed that encouragement and truth dearly.
I miss so many of my church "friends"
Makes me sad that they could so easily dispense of me, as if I meant nothing. Sucks that your fear made it so easy to walk away and never look back. Perhaps you think it was I who walked away. But in honesty, I made a huge change in my life, in order to be obedient to who God created me to be. I did what I knew I had to do, and I tried to reach out and to you.... But my calls or text or FB post weren't good enough. But I will keep forgiving 70x7. I probably already stopped calling and trying to reach out, cause you have been pretty clear how you feel. How dare you claim you worry for others souls, when you flat out rejected one that looks a lot like your mistaken idea of a sinner looks like. Sure I'm a sinner just like you, but my gender and sexuality don't play into that. I want you to know that while I sometimes still get angry at the way you have ignored me... I still love you! Not because you deserve it, but because God has given me an extra measure of grace to extend to you, much like the grace He lavishes on us each day. One day I hope you can know and love the God who is bigger than fear, and loves without borders, with reckless abandon.
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