In a few weeks, the University Baptist Church will co-sponsor a Jennifer Knapp concert with our friends at the University United Methodist Church and Trinity Methodist Church. Some of you may know her from her old roots as a Grammy-nominated Christian music artist. She had quite a run in the 90's selling more than a million albums over just a few years. She catered to the Christian music industry, writing songs from her personal faith journey (and if you don't know who she is, I won't hold it against you).
She began to wrestle with her sexual identity around the same time that she quit the music business. In interviews, she said that her desire to call it quits wasn't directly tied to her decision to come out as a lesbian, but for those of us who have come out, often times looking back, we can see how those decisions to be most fully who we are and to name our own identity permeate every other facet of our living.
In 2009, Knapp was back with some new music, a new identity, a partner of eight years and a story of her journey towards love and inclusion. Though shunned by much of the Christian consumer market, Knapp has found an audience of faithful followers and supporters. Knapp bridges this weird divide: the conservative theology that so many of us grew up with and this new found identity of same-sex attraction and binding that up in love.
I remember coming out to my friends and family. I am one of the fortunate ones who didn't have it too bad. My family, friends, and church community, for the most part, loved and accepted me for who I was. And the ones who didn't fell away or eventually came around. My loving community was still standing when I named the fullness of who I am.
But my experience, unfortunately, is not everyone's experience. And I find that it is too easy to forget that sometimes. I have friends whose experience is not so easy. One friend of mine has just been completely shut out of her family of origin as she has begun planning her wedding with her life-long partner. Another is in an opposite-sex marriage with her best friend but is desperate for romantic love, as she has discovered her same-sex attraction.
Sometimes as we journey away from that place of coming out or being outted, either as a member of the LGBT or a fervent supporter and ally, and that place of coming out looks so small in the rear-view as we look back on it, we can forget that others have just begun that journey. They are struggling for community. Searching for home. Desperate for the caring voice that says you are loved and accepted just the way you are. They are searching to hear the words "God loves you, just the way you are."
Even in the wake of the Supreme Court's historic decision, we still live in a world where people are shunned, pushed out, and where young people take their own lives because the journey ahead looks too hard, steep, or thorny. We have folks walk through our church doors, young and old, rich and poor, where this journey is a new one. And so often unfamiliar and scary.
Jennifer Knapp's concert matters. Jennifer Knapp offers a place of sanctuary. She appeals to that conservative Christian consumer base, is a familiar face in a new world for some. Her journey and story offer a place of refuge for people who are owning sexuality and identity for the first time. And we here at the University Baptist Church are called to offer that refuge. Though our coming out may be a distant memory, remembering that the wounds are fresh for so many is so important. Every once in a while I need a reminder that not everyone is where I am on the journey. And sometimes that is a firm kick in the pants (and thanks be to God for that). Because when I am open to that self-awareness, I can be an agent of God's refuge and peace in ways that I may not have otherwise been.
So as we continue to celebrate our freedom to marry, may we keep an open awareness to others who are fresh on the journey. And as we continue to be a place of loving inclusion, may our self-awareness help us remember where we've been and open us up to where we are headed. May we always keep the power of inclusion at hand.
