Feeding the Dead: A Vision for Healing LGBTQ+ Faith

    Let me tell you a little story:

    When I was about 14 years old, I was attending a week of revival services at my uncle's church in Farmington, NM. One evening, after services, I went home and went right to bed, as I had school in the morning. I went to sleep while my father and step-mother were still up, but was awakened later to a bright light. In the light, I could make out the vague form of a man. Everything was silent, but then the man spoke. "Give food to my dead," he told me. "What do you mean?" I asked. He repeated, "give food to my dead." "Lord," I argued, "if they're dead, they can't eat." With that, it faded away. I laid there thinking, "wow, what a dream." Until I realized I'd been awake the whole time.

    I've always taken this encounter to be a calling from God, but it never made sense to me... until recently.  A few years ago, I had thought of this incident, and it came to me that what God had meant was that I should work to heal the faith of those whose faith had been most damaged.  At the time, being in denial of both my sexuality and gender identity, I had no idea that queer people even believed in God.  Of course, there are those who don't.  But, then again, there are straight people who don't, as well.  But, it's only been in the past couple of years that I've come to realize that a good many queer people do, in fact, believe in God.  But, mainstream Christians would rather act as gatekeepers of the faith, than faithful followers of Christ.  I know many self-righteous Christians who will take offense at being told they're not faithful followers of the Great Teacher, but, as they say, the truth hurts.  Here's another truth to consider:  Nowhere in the biblical recounting of Christ's ministry will you find an instance in which Jesus turned away one single soul who was hungry for a connection with the divine.

    It was not even Christ's place to act as gatekeeper of the faith.  His role was to be the gate, itself.  He didn't say, "Tell them to come unto me if they meet standards you find agreeable."  No, He told His followers to go out and invite EVERYONE, and to welcome all who accept the invitation.  He said nothing about setting stipulations.  He did not tell them to exclude from membership anyone who offended their sensitivities.  Just invite, and welcome.  That's your job, your responsibility, as a follower of Christ.  Invite them to the gate and welcome them in.  That's it!  Then you move on to invite another soul.  Once they've entered into the gate, it is the job of the Holy Spirit to deal with anything that may need to be dealt with.  IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!  LEAVE IT ALONE!

    Let me tell you about a man I know.  He has a wonderful gift of healing.  With the laying on of hands and sincere, reverent prayer, he has prayed healing into several people.  One such person was a neighbor of his who was suffering a type of  heart attack known as a "widow maker".  He was taking the neighbor to the hospital, but half-way there, it came to him that his neighbor wasn't going to survive long enough to get to the hospital.  Reaching over, he put his right hand on the arm of the other and began praying.  Shortly, his neighbor said, "take me back home.  God's healed me!"  While this is a marvelous gift, indeed, it is outweighed by his refusal to be around anyone who's gay.  Before accepting Christ into his life, this man was part of a gang, and a drug dealer.  A cousin of his, who he claims had been his favorite cousin, is gay.  After giving his life over to Christ, he turned his back on the cousin because he felt it would be wrong to spend time with him.  Christ, himself, dined with all sorts of people, and this man can't even spend time with one gay cousin?  Seriously?  Certainly he doesn't think he's better than Jesus, does he?  Maybe he forgot what Paul wrote in Romans 3:23.  "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."  Not only is he committing a spiritual injustice against his cousin, not to mention others he finds to be to his disliking, he's also committing a serious disservice to our Heavenly Father.  Behavior like this is off-putting and causes many to say, "if this is what it's like to be a Christian, I'll pass."  Non-Christians know this behavior isn't right; why don't Christians? 

    What it all comes down to is that as a Christian, you should be a shining example, a light upon a hill; not a blackout.  As I said, your job (as a Christian) is to invite and welcome.  Be loving, not judgmental.  Christ told his disciples:  "A new command I give you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this shall all men know you are my disciples, if you have love one to another."  John 13:34-35

    How loving is it to turn your back on someone because of their sexuality, or gender identity?  It isn't loving, at all.  It's spiritual cowardice!