Introducing Reclaim
Setting off on a new journey regarding the intersection of faith and sexuality.
I remember growing up hearing about how terrible gay people were. I remember the misconceptions about how these people had supposedly all turned their backs on God. I remember all the ugly accusations made, the slurs, the insults. Reality is, all these things struck closer than what was comfortable. All of the malignant and homophobic things said about gay individuals kept me from understanding myself. I was gay, but the noise was confusing and stifling to self-discovery.
Since coming out, one reality has struck me. There is a theological sureness, and a dangerous one at that, with how people approach this topic in the conservative and evangelical communities, and one that doesn’t make room for queer individuals in God’s kingdom. There is so much noise, so many voices of oftentimes hateful opposition, that it’s hard to filter out reality.
That’s why I’m starting Reclaim as a sanctuary and place to clear out the noise on this subject and to reclaim the conversation for queer individuals. Straight individuals, who have no understanding, have long offered their opinion on the topic in ways that have been hateful, harmful, unproductive, and have driven away a large portion of the LGBTQ+ community (around 90% of which grew up in Christianity) from the church.
The church has long been due for a reassessment of how it approaches these discussions, and even more importantly, the people who are impacted by the theology regarding these subjects. In doing so, it has often overlooked or ignored external realities that must be grappled with. Scripture gives us a basis to work with, but it doesn’t give us a precise guide on how to work through everything.
This is where the church, especially those advocating for ex-gay (Side X) ideology, needs a huge reality checkup, and this warning goes for Side Y and Side B groups as well. If your theology towards gay and trans individuals functions in a way that increases suicidality and mental health problems, then you need to consider that something about your theology is wrong. God does expect what we cannot live up to, and neither should we impose standards that queer individuals can’t meet.
The church is not just for straight, white individuals. It’s not an echo chamber for just one line of thought. The church transcends these cultural and philosophical boundaries, enveloping and embracing even the misfits. Granted, there are the essentials that we absolutely cannot compromise on, which are succinctly taught in the three ecumenical creeds (Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian). There are also areas in which Christians have a great amount of freedom and liberty. As Lutheran theologian Rupertus Meldenius explained, “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.”
Ultimately, the church must recognize that it has failed somehow if it has caused a specific minority to mass exit the flock, not because they don’t believe in God, but because they have been told they don’t belong. That’s just lazy, personally, if your theology is only useful because when applied, it causes the group that it should ideally help to leave. That’s not loving or embracing. That’s just willful ignorance of how ineffective the church has been at tackling this subject in an honorable way.
In order to talk about these things, we have to be able to be honest and open about the realities at hand. We have to approach it in a way that doesn’t force or coerce, but invites, forgives, loves, and blesses. We have to be willing to learn from and listen to voices that may clash and break down the stigmas that have been built up in the Christian community concerning the LGBTQ+ community.
Queer people are no different from any other type of people. They still have the same needs, same wants, same desires that any other person could have.
They still need Jesus.
And the same Savior who hung out with the misfits in his society still wants them.
If we expect the church to remain a harbor for people to find rest and hope in Jesus, we need to have our arms and doors fully open like he does. If we expect Christianity to continue bringing hope and life to people throughout the ages to come, we need to have no limits on who this is for, because Jesus shows us time and time again that his love is for everyone.
The uprooting of LGBTQ+ individuals through anti-queer rhetoric and religious intolerance does not just lead to the mass exit of queer individuals alone. In fact, the younger generations (both gay and straight alike) are largely exiting the church more and more because of this and other social and justice issues that the church has failed to resolve. Both the church's inaction and bad resolutions are to blame for the steady exit of younger generations from the fold, despite growth in religious interest. Evidently, it's hard to sit in a church that teaches that your friends don't belong over something they can't change, and that shouldn't surprise us.
Yet, they didn't leave because of the real Jesus. They left because of the abuse of his word. They left because they were consistently preached a message that intentionally ostracized them as a person. Queer people are consistently told they don't belong, to the point that pastors in evangelical bodies have advocated that we should be put to death or end our lives on our own. That's not the heart of Christ; in fact, that's horrific. We constantly get told that we're who the “millstone around the neck” passage is aimed at, but who, may I ask, is causing people to lose their faith? It's certainly not those of us who wish we could exist in the church like any other human being and experience the love of Christ.
Queer people aren't going to disappear or go away, and we need the love of Jesus as much as anyone else. In fact, I think seeing the way that many individuals live in contradiction to God's goodness by showing hate to queer people has only made me more aware of how needful I am of the love of Jesus and knowing that he's got me no matter what. The one thing needful, sitting at Jesus’ feet, hearing his word, and receiving his love, is what we all need. And it's time we stop gatekeeping a love we aren't given the right to gatekeep. There are no terms and conditions to God's love, and there's no despair, but actually a lot of hope for us queer individuals.
LGBTQ+ individuals belong in the church as much as any other group of people, and it's time for us to reclaim space for ourselves in a church that we haven't abandoned, but has abandoned us.
