by A. Caleb Pritt

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Bishop Gene Robinson of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire"][/caption]Quick, tell me what the names Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and V. Gene Robinson have in common? If you answered civil rights leaders/icons, you are only half right. These are two men whose lives were/are ground in a deep and abiding faith with God. Yet, sadly, I see so many people in the GLBT community and the faith-based communities reach this impossible crevasse and divide.

On the one side you have those who are hurt, turned, and rent asunder from the pain they experienced in church. But we must remember, as Christians who are also GLBT, the verse in Romans 3:23 “All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.” We also see in our community the need to fill a void that alcohol, friendships, partying, and no amount of self-help efforts can fill. That void is the relationship that God calls each and everyone of us to be a part of in our lives. Yes, God gave us free will, but we are also the creation….not the creator. When we reject God, we reject the one who got us over, the one who loves us unconditionally and without exception. And people do mess up in Christianity and misrepresent the message of Jesus Christ, from Judas all the way down to the evangelists today who are caught in scandal. But the failings of those does not take away the power or the legitimacy of what Jesus Christ preached and why he came to earth.

On the other side you have generation upon generation who has been told over and over again that homosexuality is wrong because, “Its in the Bible.” How many of them take the time to really study the issue? How many of them see that the verses so often used to justify denying Christ to those in the GLBT community are verses based in the kosher laws, when we are under the Law of Grace? How many of them see that other verses used deal with sexual immorality, male prostitution, and do not deal with sexual orientation? Finally, how many have ever bothered to notice Jesus Christ, God incarnate upon earth who was fully man and fully God, never once…never condemned or even mentioned homosexuality? However, Jesus Christ spoke out against divorce, against gossip, against stealing, against those who gluttonously use resources to enrich themselves while ignoring the needs of those in need around them.

Throughout time, the Church has been used to persecute many groups of people. The Protestants, the Pilgrims, women, American-Indians, African-Americans, Hispanics to name just a few. And then Christ has given a revelation and the entire Church has seen others as their brothers & sisters in Christ…not a designation given to deny them the Good News, the sacraments of the Church, and most of all the loving and edifying relationships that one finds in a Christian community.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="Anchorage Baptist Temple's Jerry Prevo and Glenn Clary, leaders in the Anchorage religious right's fight against equal rights under the law for GLBT people."][/caption]

Anchorage has been rocked recently by Anchorage Baptist Temple and other churches who have stirred the smoke of hatred and hurt. All one has to do is remember the redshirts and the protests before the Anchorage Assembly when debating a nondiscrimination ordinance that would affirm & protect the GLBT community. But here’s the deal: the more that churches and the more that church members come in contact in their daily lives with people they know, people they pray with, people they love that are GLBT…the harder it is for the Devil or any spiritual force that attempts to misuse the Church and it’s members to discriminate and cause division. When we form relationships in the Church and others see through our lives the love of Jesus Christ…it’s harder to claim the GLBT community is godless and sinful. Our mission in the GLBT community as Christians is for God to be see in us and through us, as much as the same calling is to the heterosexual community who are Christian.

My best response to when we are hurt is to bless those that hurt us. I know its hard and it’s challenging, but consider this example. I know a friend who had their wallet stolen. He responded by saying, “I blessed the robber because of three reasons. Reason number one, when he took my wallet, I didn’t have a lot of money inside the wallet. Reason number two, is he took the wallet, when he could have just as easily took my life. Finally, reason number three, is thank God I was the one who was robbed and not the one who was robbing!”

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="375" caption="Rev. Michael Burke, Rector of St. Mary's Episcopal Church, outside the Loussac Library, where the Anchorage Assembly was hearing the third day of testimony on AO-64, 17 June 2009."][/caption]

There are plenty of churches who accept those who are GLBT and who also seek a relationship with Christ.

Do you feel alone? Do you feel hurt or forgotten? Do you believe there is more to life than the life you are living? Do you believe there is more than just this life on Earth?

God is calling to you today. Jesus Christ came and died for your sins and for my sins as well. God doesn’t reject but rather loves. He is seeking a relationship with you today. All you have to do is seek him daily in prayer. Talk to God as you would talk to me or to any friend. Reach out and ask God and be prepared to accept that whatever comes in your life, is the result of consequences as well as the plan God has for you. But I can tell you, in the end, God will always forgive you, always love you, always will be there for you.

There may be those who disagree with what I have written here today. That’s okay, but I don’t answer to you, but rather I answer to a higher calling. I recognize there are those who read this who claim to be not Christian, maybe even Atheist. I respect your right and your choice to believe as you do…but I ask that you also grant me the same respect and right to believe what I believe, and that is this, “For God so loved the World, that He gave his only begotten Son, that who so ever believes in him, shall not perish, but have eternal life!” Saint John 3:16

There are many churches that are gay-affirming/welcoming.  There are many churches that are gay-affirming/welcoming. Here’s a link as a resource and there are others not listed. [Editor’s note: see also Bent Alaska’s list of  Alaska’s GLBT-friendly churches and religious organizations.]

Take a chance, come back, and know God is waiting on you. Most of all, I know you may have been hurt, but it wasn’t God but it was someone who misspoke in God’s name. I leave you my brother & my sister with another verse from Romans 8:39 : “No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Editor’s note: Thanks, Caleb, for your statement of faith as a GLBT Christian.

Are you a GLBT member of a faith community or follow a spiritual path?  Would you like to share your story or views on the relationship between religion/spirituality and your life as a GLBT person?  Please let us know!  And be sure to check out our list of  Alaska’s GLBT-friendly churches and religious organizations.

All photos except that of Gene Robinson by Melissa S. (Mel) Green. Gene Robinson photo via Wikimedia Commons.  Click through on any photo for further information.

Tags: Andrew Caleb Pritt, Christianity