I'm a hopeless romantic, and I grew up on Disney films about how finding your true love is the key to unlocking your happily ever after. This was further confirmed on Sundays when the pastor would tell us that next to the day of his salvation, his wedding day was the happiest day of his life. If I had a beautiful partner who I loved and was obsessed with and who truly loved and was obsessed with me, too, how could I not finally be fulfilled? When I see an attractive man at the gym, on the subway, or on social media, I can't help but see him as the answer to my longings. What I continually have to remind myself is that this is fantasy.

Hannah taught me that the very site of my seeming brokenness would actually be the place where I could become a fruitful gift to the Kingdom of God. Where I used to lament and mourn my queerness exclusively, I am now learning to see it as a kind of gift and blessedness. I am reminded of the promise of Isaiah 56 to eunuchs, who were considered a kind of gender and sexual minority in the ancient world: "To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant— to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever."

Actually, though, Adele was not royalty. While she was certainly a prominent figure in Austrian society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, she was nevertheless an "ordinary" woman.

Or was she? Like every precious human being created in the image of God, Adele beautifully reflects the royal image of our Creator. Moreover, no matter how "ordinary" a person might seem, all we who are in Christ are God's masterpieces (Ephesians 2:10).

Years later, I would ask him what madness convinced him to put me on a stage when he was such a great preacher. He answered, “There’s too much work for any one person, and you have the same Holy Spirit I do.”

You have the same Holy Spirit I do… that stuck with me.

My pastor was modeling for me what Jesus is teaching his followers in Matthew 9. The work of the Gospel is big, necessary, and too much for any one person to do… so God’s Spirit is constantly working in God’s community, raising up new shepherds.

I serve in my local church not because I am trying to prove anything to myself or others. Not to earn love or to make up for being queer. Not to be the gay hero or the youth group leader that I needed. Not to rescue or because I feel like it is all on me…okay sometimes I serve because of that, but that's where my therapist comes in (thanks, Jessie). I serve from a place of freedom, of knowing that God not only wants to use my strengths but also my messiness for His Glory in my church. Because my God delights in the messiness. What if you believed this, too? Because then you, too, might have a 9th grader think that you are "literally the coolest."

It makes me think of some of the resistance that so many in the Revoice community have faced, along with all faithful LGBTQ+/SSA siblings in Christ who have chosen to embrace the historic Christian sexual ethic. Even despite their faithful devotion, many in our community are still looked upon with suspicion and alarm by some members of the wider Christian religious establishment. Honestly, this pains me. Very, very deeply.

I've been thinking a lot about what Michelle wrote last month in the Conference Newsletter, especially the "contradictions" in the Sermon on the Mount. I keep wondering, "How Jesus might preach his Beatitudes of Matthew 5 to our Revoice community?" The word beatitudes means blessed or even “the good life,” and it makes me wonder, how is the “Side B” community uniquely blessed by Jesus.

It is no secret that so many LGBTQ+/SSA disciples have withstood trauma, disappointment, and significant confusion about their place in God's story. This masterpiece serves as a clarion reminder that Jesus has been with you throughout every moment of suffering. Although God's plan may be unfolding differently than you imagined, God is actively writing a larger cosmic story in which you play a crucial role.