Uprooting

Each year between November 13th and 19th, organizations around the country participate in Transgender Awareness Week, to help increase understanding about transgender people and the issues members of the community face. I am so happy that Good Shepherd is welcoming back Sarah for an Adult Forum sharing her transgender experience.

Transgender Awareness Week takes place the week before Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20th, an annual observance to honor the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence in the past year. How I long for a future in which trans folk thrive, completely free from violence! The prophets warn that “the coming day will burn up evildoers, leaving them neither root nor branch” (Malachi 4:1-2). Perhaps the Christian church faces an uncertain future because of the evil we have enabled against sexual minorities throughout the centuries. How can we repent?

We start by making an effort to listen to trans people. If you don’t know what pronouns to use for a person, listen first. Someone who knows the person well will probably use the correct pronoun. If you need to ask which pronoun the person uses, start with your own. For example, “Hi, I’m Chelsea and I use the pronouns she/her.” If you accidentally use the wrong pronoun, apologize quickly, correct your mistake, then move on. I’m not going it lie. I still make pronoun mistakes all the time. It is an immense challenge to uproot gender bias from our brains. But isn’t uprooting “evils” what baptism is all about?

with love, Pr. Chelsea