Community Spirit Church is partnering with Delta Pride to host a Trans Day of Remembrance Service on Monday, November 20th at 6 PM. (Come help us set up at 5 PM if you can.)
In addition to distributing “save the date” fliers at various LGBTQIA+ events, our church boosted a Facebook post hoping to reach a wider-than-usual audience. In doing this, I figured there would be folks who wouldn’t be thrilled to see our notice show up in their newsfeed—but what I didn’t anticipate (innocent soul that I sometimes am) is that some of those individuals would give themselves permission to leave profane comments on our post! (Those responses were quickly deleted, and the accounts from which they came were immediately blocked.)
The late senior minister of Riverside Church in New York City, Rev. William Sloan Coffin, called homophobia “the last acceptable prejudice.” He wasn’t saying that homophobia was acceptable, only that it was still quite acceptable to express one’s homophobia. Coffin passed away before the transgender and nonbinary community found their voices and gained visibility; if he were with us now, I imagine he would modify his statement to say that “transphobia is the last acceptable prejudice.”
Our event next week will not win over the most ardent of transphobes. But it can and will send a message to our transgender and nonbinary siblings that WE see them and stand with them as together we grieve the violence that has uniquely affected their community.
Whether or not you plan to attend next week’s moving service, I encourage you to take time to read the following article posted online in November 2021 by the highly reputable Christian magazine, Sojourners. If, by our allyship, we aim to change the world for good, it is vital that we invest heart and time in learning more about those we feel called by God to support.
Meeting God Beyond the Gender Binary
I hope to see you at the Ute on Monday, November 20th at 6 PM as together we learn, serve, and grow.
With you on the journey,
