Embracing the Unknown

Monday, June 23, 2025

Happy Monday and Happy Pride, my friends! Today marks the beginning of the last full week of Pride Month 2025. Overall, the month has been successful, safe, productive, and joyous despite the various forces which are conspiring to further marginalize and even erase members of the LGBTQIA+ community. LOVEboldly was absolutely blessed to welcome at least 90 people to the Second Annual Interfaith Pride Service (the photo below was taken after the service by board member, NV Gay). We also enjoyed tabling at Westerville Pride, our “hometown” Pride, and at Columbus Pride, put on through the massive efforts of our friends at Stonewall Columbus, including board member Cass Helms. While there is always a certain element of the unknown in Pride Month, these three events—Westerville Pride, the Interfaith Pride Service, and Columbus Pride—have become an expected and welcome rhythm during June.

Yet, as June winds down and we approach July, I’m preparing for the 2025 Holy Convocation of The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries (TFAM). I leave on July 1 for Atlanta and a gathering of LGBTQIA+ clergy, leaders, and Christians, and some fierce allies. That part is hardly unknown, what is unknown is how this particular group does church and life together. Friends, it should be painfully obvious that I’m very white, still somewhat (Anglo-)Catholic, and relatively casual, particularly compared to how I used to be. On July 1 I will walk into a historically Black, strongly leaning Pentecostal space and I’ve only been told how to dress for one evening’s worship service. Is this the epitome of Black church experience with suits, dresses, and hats which would rival any Episcopal church in the South? Is TFAM more casual? Will there be people in shorts at any time of day and people in three-piece suits sitting next to them? Are we putting on a show because who’s going to stop us or does almost anything go because that’s how the kin-dom of God works?

Then I wonder how I’m supposed to act. If you’re follow “Coming Out Christian” (you should be – www.loveboldly.net/comingoutchristian), you know that Siobhan and some of our guests routinely tease me about still being new to clapping in church. Roman Catholics and Episcopalians don’t clap in church, and they definitely don’t do more than nod during sermons and prayers. I admit I’m becoming more comfortable with raised hands and “amens” during worship, particularly when I’m preaching. TFAM solicited for folks to join the mass choir for convocation and thinking that I missed singing in church choirs, I volunteered. Now I wonder what I got myself into. To quote a TFAM clergy member, “What’s the point of being in the choir if you don’t sweat?” Roman Catholics and Episcopalians only aim to sweat whilst singing in as much as they’re vested and under lights. Will I be the big white boy, so easy to identify for that fact alone, and miserably out of rhythm?

I’m still not sure, but this very white, very Midwest, very small-town boy is far more nervous about what he’s supposed to wear and how he’s expected to act than he is about attending an international gathering of clergy, leaders, and Christians, most of whom are Queer, and all of whom are engaged in innovative ministry and activism across traditions, denominations, and national borders.

In Luke 5:4, Jesus commands some of the newly called disciples to “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” This is one of the early moments when Jesus asks people to trust him and embrace the unknown. Nearly as remarkable here is that Jesus is a carpenter[1] and he’s giving fishing commands to seasoned fishers. Luke 5:6 tells us that, “When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to burst.” Jesus often asked his disciples and others around him to embrace the unknown whether in fishing, giving up possessions, living in community, or walking paths without clear or safe ends. Jesus still asks us to step into the unknown even though we experience anxiety about some or all of that unknown.

What unknown are you being asked to step into? What concerns you the most about the unknown?

Let us pray: Jesus, you ask us to step into the unknown. Sometimes you invite us with an outstretched hand and other times you point us in the direction we need to go, confident that we will be all right. Empower us to embrace the unknown and dark places with the courage that your love imparts. Make us people ready for where the sidewalk ends and may we always remember that you walk closely with us even if we don’t see you. Amen.

Blessings on your weeks, my friends! Let me know if there is anything I can do for you.

Faithfully,

Ben +

[1] Yes, we don’t know for sure what occupation Jesus was trained in, but given that Joseph was a carpenter, it’s likely that Jesus too trained in that trade.