Friday, November 30, 2001

"the voice of one crying out in the wilderness." Mark 1:3

I am a regular reader of the magazine The Other Side. Within its pages, I often find a controversial voice, speaking to that part of me that would rather be quiet. Sometimes these prophetic stances, from a wilderness we are yet to name, sound like voices from outer space. The world says they're crazy voices, confrontative, on the margins, off the wall.

This past summer, The Other Side was brave enough to include four articles about gender issues and the church. Virginia Ramey Mollenkott wrote one of the articles. I remember reading her book, Is the Homosexual My Neighbor? over twenty years ago, and here is this woman with a strong backbone, continuing to be a voice for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered people. Virginia persists in speaking out about the humanity of all people and the need to accept people just as they are.

I have been fortunate to count as friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers, people whose diversity is called by the names gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered. These are human beings who are dear to my heart. As a pastor in a denomination that is still struggling to fully welcome all people, I find my voice names them too few times. I'm probably hesitant to be too vocal about the rampant heterosexism in the church because I've already experienced the consequences of naming that situation. Yet, when I think of one of the areas for repentance needed by the church, I can't abide my wimpy silence.

When God called Jeremiah to be a prophetic voice to those people so long ago, Jeremiah was sure he was too young, wasn't a good speaker, and wouldn't know what to say. God's response was that God would give him the words to say and God's presence would be with him as he went about this work.

What reasons might we give for being silent? We could say we are too old, too young, too comfortable, too established in our profession, too respected by our peers. Thankfully someone like Virginia Ramey Mollenkott hasn't let those kinds of reasons silence her over the years.

FOR REFLECTION: Around what issue, concerning what marginalized people in the world, have you been silent? What could help you find your voice?

Sue Burwell

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