For Such a Time As This | Looking Forward
“We are in an era where those in power are trying to legislate queer people out of existence. One of the common justifications for this violence is Christianity. The United Methodist Church taking steps towards the full inclusion and affirmation of LGBTQ+ people is a way to challenge the legitimacy of this argument.”
The United Methodist Church’s 2024 General Conference started this week, and we are asking LGBTQ+ Christians and allies to — Read. Pray. Share. — alongside the stories of our LGBTQ+ siblings in the United Methodist Church as they fight for inclusion within their denomination. This global conference is where they can vote on policies that will govern the denomination until they can meet again, shaping the lives of United Methodists worldwide.
In this blog post, we highlight the words of QCF Community Member Josie White (she/her), who grew up in small-town Illinois and moved to Chicago for school. She attended Columbia College Chicago for piano performance and currently works as a worship leader at Urban Village Church in Chicago.
Photo of Josie White, who is a worship leader in Chicago.
During this UMC General Conference season, I think about where I was during the last conference in 2019. I had just begun to explore my own gender identity following years of wrestling with my sexuality. About half a year prior, I had started attending an affirming church here in Chicago, and I didn’t feel invested enough in my church’s connection to the greater Methodist church to pay attention to the broader institutional happenings.
Now, I work as a worship leader for that same church that I started attending back in 2018. I did not grow up in the UMC, and my growing relationship with the denomination is more a product of my affiliation with my church community than with the broader denomination. As I reflect on where I’m at with the UMC, I think of the story of Esther and how she came to have influence in a political structure that she could not have anticipated.
“For such a time as this.” I heard this phrase from the book of Esther cited many times in various Christian spaces in my youth, often in reference to political power and change. However, in my experience, this line was used without acknowledging the profound misogyny, violence, and dehumanization present throughout the story of Esther. I am deeply grateful to one of my close friends who named those injustices and helped me to see more of the complexity of scripture.
We are in an era where those in power are trying to legislate queer people out of existence. One of the common justifications for this violence is Christianity. The United Methodist Church taking steps towards the full inclusion and affirmation of LGBTQ+ people is a way to challenge the legitimacy of this argument. I may not have sought to have influence within the Methodist church, but I feel a divine invitation to step up and make change where I find myself. I invite you to consider where you have influence and can partner with God in creating a more just world.
Let us pray,
God of Esther, who brings life out of systems of death and destruction; God of Hagar, who sees us as we are; God of the Ethiopian Eunuch, who invites us to come with the fullness of who we are: we mourn for the ways your people exclude each other, exclude us. May your justice prevail in the UMC General Conference, that your church may be a prophetic voice of inclusion and welcome in a world that is so full of division. May we be attentive to the opportunities we have to make change and bold to act in love. Amen
Josie White (she/her) preaching on Easter Sunday, which was also Transgender Day of Visibility.
