Letting Our Light Shine

Yesterday I happened to have the chance to speak with a group of representatives of a local church that is doing outreach and service in the community. This was a group of mostly Spanish-speaking adults and young people and in many ways it was inspiring to witness their faith and enthusiasm for sharing the Gospel with others. The only sad thing was realizing that they were uncomfortable knowing that I am gay, since they made it clear that they believe the Bible condemns loving, monogamous same-sex partnerships.

It was hard to realize that was the case and yet at the same time I was also grateful for a conversation I had with one member of the group, in which she emphasized that it's important to be open to dialogue and learn from each other. Her primary concern seemed to be that acknowledging same-sex partnerships in the church could in the end lead to more people 'becoming' gay, with the result that fewer children would be born in families and communities.

Although I did my best to be patient and compassionate, I must say it's hard sometimes to hear things like that. The lives of so many LGBT people are filled with so much emotional suffering and estrangement from churches, communities and families that it's hard to imagine how anyone would consciously accept being 'recruited' to become gay and thereby potentially enter into a life of severe alienation from loved ones and other structures of support.

So the struggle continues. Sometimes I must say I feel pretty sad and discouraged by the sheer magnitude of the work of education that needs to be done. And then often either through prayer or speaking with family and friends I realize that all each of us can do is simply let our light shine in the places where we're at. There's so much to do and yet the best way to make it happen is just to start in little ways each day, standing up for love, justice, tolerance and peace as best we can in the ways God call us each to do.

May God's Spirit of love touch our hearts in this sacred time of year, granting us the gifts of patience and compassion with and for each other as we walk this journey of life together.

Peace,
P. Chuck