A Church That Cares And Accepts

by Sharon Stolzenberg

(The Gender Centre advise that this article may not be current and as such certain content, including but not limited to persons, contact details and dates may not apply. Where legal authority or medical related matters are cited, responsibility lies with the reader to obtain the most current relevant legal authority and/or medical publication.)

... it doesn't matter if one is straight, transgender, gay, lesbian, bisexual ... trying to help people who have been hurt by hate speeches by some denominations in the past.

I am a member of Metropolitan Community Church, Sydney (96 Crystal Street Petersham). I am in the process of developing a Special Ministry with a Church in-service and outreach focus for transgender people who may be in search of a Christian Church that affirms transgender people whilst at the same time being inclusive of other marginalised people who are gay, lesbian or bisexual and their families and friends.

This is a Church where one doesn't have to subscribe to any labels, where if you wish to be part of a wonderful group of loving Christians who affirm their T.G.L.B.I. experience then you can be. It is a church where we can celebrate God's love for us without the need to hide who we are or our experiences.

I know from my own experience that I can go along to some Catholic Churches, and while none may pick up or guess that I am a woman of transsexual background, I feel I cannot "just hide" whenever I witness or hear homophobic and transphobic and other hate speech against transgender, gay, lesbian and bisexual people as often is used and preached in such churches.

I am not one who is going to hang around with such a church, if I cannot first and foremost be who I am, as created by God, and to be in communion with God and the faithful, if I just hide and silently bear witness to preaching that I find to be against the spirit of Christianity.

While I am a female, girl and woman and regard myself as always being so, even when I had a different body - I am the sort of woman who will bear witness to the truth that God's children do include transsexed, intersexed, gays, lesbian and bisexual people.

Jesus Christ, whilst not being a self righteous moralist and do-gooder preacher, never denied who he was, that is the child of humanity and the child of God, even when persecuted by the religious authorities and by other status quo stakeholders with threats of stoning to death and the imminent threat of a horrible death; and further even unto the actual arrest, trial and crucifixion. So if Jesus, who is much greater that I or any other human calls me into being a sister, a child of God then it would be a greater sin for me to a deny I am a child of God and a woman of trans sexed background. God called and continues to call me into a loving relationship. The God that made me who and what I am and loves be because what God made is good, As stated in Genesis, "God saw what God had made, and behold it was Good. [Gen. 1: 1-31]

I am also a human with human frailties and weaknesses and therefore I have the potential to do virtuous things and also to sin, or miss the mark in many ways in my actions and thoughts at times, but God's promise to forgive me and to help me be a more Christ-like person is what is important.

This brings to heart and mind a powerful Gospel story. When asked by a "teacher of the law" one day what was the greatest commandment of God for humans to follow, Jeshua (Jesus) replied "The first is: Yisham Yisrael, the Sovereign, our God is one Sovereign; and you shall love the Sovereign, your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. And after this comes another one: You shall Love your neighbour (fellow person) as you love yourself. The is no greater commandment than these two". [Mark 12: 28-31].

Now if I or any other person is to even begin to try and follow these commandments we need first to believe in a god that is worthy of the sort of devotion Jesus is telling us to do. A god who so loves us even when we sinners and who in that loves always calls us to repent (change our ways that are not leading to good and to life). When we have faith that is both mysterious and based on reflection of how God has worked in our lives, then the first commandment holds for us a sense of belonging and purpose. God wants us to love God (her or him). That says a lot to me about how much God cares for me.

The second part of the commandment would be impossible to fulfill if I or any other person could not love themselves so much that they couldn't love another person as they love themselves. If I now that I can love myself taking into account all my humanity the "saint and sinner" (self-acceptance and peace within) then I am well on my way to being able to love another (forgiving others and being in right relationship or justice with them).

So if I were to hate myself for being trans sexed or listened to the half-truths and lies told by fundamentalist preachers and told myself that I am unworthy of unlovable even to myself, let alone to God, then I would cease to be a person who could love anyone else).

That is why, after reflecting on the truth of the Gospels, I am convinced that I was not only created by God as a person belonging to God's diverse creation, being born transsexed and being guided to pursue in life the goals that would make me a wholesome, peaceful and loving person by being the woman I am; but that God Loves me and cherishes me as who I am. "God loves me, absolutely". "God loves trannys absolutely", "God loves all God's creation, absolutely".

So then, I have found a church were it doesn't matter if one is straight, transgender, gay, lesbian, bisexual, but at the same time being positively affirming, in the sense of trying to help people who have been hurt by hate speech by some denominations in the past. That is a wonderful life­-giving and spiritually enriching experience to hear that God loves us as transgender women and men, and so it is for our gay, lesbian and bisexual brothers and sisters.

The pastor, Reverend Greg Smith is a wonderful caring person. So too is the youth pastor, Reverend Johnathan Jones. They, as well as other certain key members of M.C.C. Sydney have given much encouragement for a ministry that has a focus for transsexual and transgender people.

Polare is published in Australia by The Gender Centre Inc. which is funded by the Department of Community Services under the S.A.A.P. Program and supported by the N.S.W. Health Department through the AIDS and Infectious Diseases Branch. Polare provides a forum for discussion and debate on gender issues. Advertisers are advised that all advertising is their responsibility under the Trade Practices Act. Unsolicited contributions are welcome, though no guarantee is made by the Editor that they will be published, nor any discussion entered into. The editor reserves the right to edit such contributions without notification. Any submission which appears in Polare may be published on our internet site. Opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor, The Gender Centre Inc.I, the Department of Community Services or the N.S.W. Department of Health.