Kirkridge panel about the future of our movement.
When witnessing
disaster, the spiritual sage Mister Rogers would say, “Look for the helpers.” A
corollary I would add is, “Look for community.”
As
hurricane Irma passed over Atlanta, I was reminded of hurricane Opal, which did
far more damage to our neighborhood. Though without power, what I most remember
is the fun we had afterwards alongside our neighbors cleaning up debris in the
street and yards, sharing what food we had in potlucks, grateful that none of
us had sustained unrepairable damage or loss.
Of
course I realize that those with more devastating losses caused by Harvey in
Texas, Irma in Florida, multiple
hurricanes in the Caribbean, and the monsoon rains in South Asia may not have
such a rosy response, but my cousin and family rescued by boat in Beaumont may
have appreciated “community” in a more vital way.
Some
years after Opal, the Atlanta tornado barreled through the adjacent
neighborhood of Cabbagetown. Its “sound of a freight train” caused us to
shelter in our first floor garage briefly that night. On our walk the following
day we witnessed the community helping one another pull trees and branches off
cars, houses, and streets, while the Carroll Street Café provided free coffee.
Historic
Oakland Cemetery also got walloped, and out of respect for the dead, whose bone
fragments got pulled out of the ground by uprooted trees and whose headstones
got toppled by forceful winds, community members worked for months to restore
its quaint beauty and solemn dignity.
Wade
and Hobbes and I met a woman whose top floor flat’s roof had been taken off,
and she was distraught over her lost puppy. A few days later, invited to dinner
by a lesbian couple, we told them about the encounter. “They found the puppy!”
they told us, “It was on the news. It was hiding under her sofa!” One of the
better purposes of media (including social networks) is that they help
community form.
Irma
arrived in Atlanta the day after I returned from another community, one formed
in the more disastrous days of homophobia and heterosexism. During its 75th
anniversary of spiritual and political activism, Kirkridge Retreat and Study
Center celebrated its 40 years offering sanctuary to LGBT people who struggled
with the church and society’s rejection and violence. It was true joy being
with people I have known and loved for decades. At one point, an actual rainbow
graced the skies outside our meeting room.
I am looking forward to
a more broadly interfaith and ecumenical gathering of LGBT saints in St. Louis
October 31-November 2, “Rolling the Stone Away.” I hope you will consider
attending. You can help young activists hear the stories of earlier generations
in the LGBT movement by making a donation to their scholarship crowdfunding:
The
Bible is, among other things, a reminder of how communities respond to
disaster, hardship, and suffering.
In
Coming Out as Sacrament, I suggested
that it is in such vulnerability that we may experience God coming near to
bring deliverance, healing, and resurrection—often through one another, often
through one another’s stories.
The
book included this wonderful story from holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel:
In The Gates of the Forest, Elie Wiesel tells the story of a rabbi who averted a disaster for his people by meditating at a certain spot in the forest, lighting a fire, and offering a prayer. The next time catastrophe approached, one of his disciples went to the same site, offered the prayer, but did not know how to light the fire—and still miraculously avoided disaster. Later, another rabbi went to the sacred spot, but knew neither the prayer nor how to light the fire; yet it was enough to save his people. Finally, another rabbi, in a similar desperate situation, knew neither the prayer, the fire, nor the place, but he could tell the story, and that retelling again prevented calamity. … Wiesel concludes, “God made [human beings] because [God] loves stories.”*
Throughout
its history, Kirkridge has been the “campfire” around which activists of all
kinds have told our stories, including those in the LGBT Christian movement.
St. Louis will prove to be an even more expansive opportunity for LGBT
religious activists to shape community and share stories.
This is vital as we resist
renewed attacks on us, and transform a world that does not yet view us
favorably.
In facing disaster, look
for helpers and for community.
Meet me in St. Louis!
P.S. Like scripture, we have
our own “begats.” Stony Point Center’s 2015 “Rock Stars and Prophets” begat
Kirkridge’s “40th Year Celebration of LGBTQ Lives” which begat St.
Louis’s “Rolling Away the Stone.” For a
video of my personal narrative recorded at Stony Point, go to:
Related Post: You Can Walk through a Storm
*Page
50 of Coming Out as Sacrament,
paraphrasing Elie Wiesel in The Gates of
the Forest (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1966).
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Copyright © 2017 by Chris R. Glaser.
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