In closing, I want to briefly share some of Sam’s story (not his real name). Sam attended our annual conference for the first time last year. Before then, he had started the journey of coming out to those around him who were important to him. He knew that faithfulness to Jesus meant that he needed to embrace celibacy. Attending our annual conference gave him a vision for a form of communal living in the context of his local church that could be a source of life for him. Challenges remain, and it hasn’t always been easy, but Sam is committed to walking out the obedience he feels called to pursue as he follows Jesus.

In Advent, we reflect on Jesus' incarnation as the hope that comes to find those who sit in darkness. Perhaps Mary was the first to fully experience this: exhausted, in pain, finding a place to lay her newborn. I imagine she squints in the dim light, leaning over to behold Jesus' face. Did that voice still echo in her mind: "We have no place for you?" God meets her not just in human like-ness but on a dark, difficult night.

Sadly, many gay and same-sex-attracted Christians have a complicated relationship with the word “change” because of the ex-gay movement. For many many years, the phrase “change is possible” was the official mantra of the ex-gay movement. Ex-gay leaders weren’t referring to something relatively meaningless, like changing the cereal we like to eat for breakfast. They were referring to the aching hearts’ desire of many gay kids every night: to wake up the next day and be straight… be normal.

Have you ever felt inadequate or as if you're just going through the motions of prayer and Bible study? It's important to remember that God is in the process of lifting our feelings of inadequacy at this very moment. He values our efforts and calls our hearts daily to remind us of our worth.  Fruitful activity flows from the heart, not just by actions alone but by resting in His presence. Take some time with God to examine your heart. Allow him to revitalize you and give you a moment's rest from the busyness of life.

Nehemiah doesn't really know how to tell a good story when he's writing. Before reading and rereading this book in preparation for our conference, all I could have said about him was that Nehemiah was a cupbearer to a foreign king before he left to build the wall of Jerusalem for the Israelite exiles in need and succeeded in his efforts. Now that's good story-telling: character and setting introduction, conflict and purpose, then resolution. Except Nehemiah doesn't do that. 

Like Nehemiah, I look at our community, and I say, "They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand." (Nehemiah 1:10) What, then, will God build in us and through us? That's what we'll explore at Revoice25.

God, who possessed the whole world, chose to sell everything because he was madly in love with me, and with you. Jesus poured out on the Cross and pours out still in the Eucharist his entire self, body and blood, soul and divinity, for us. This shocking knowledge, should we choose (by God’s grace) to accept it, is the seed in our hearts that grows the pearl of Love.

It’s the beginning of August. The next school year is around the corner. For those who attended Revoice24, the excitement and energy of the conference have worn off. We’re back to normal. Sometimes, normal is hard, especially for sexual and gender minorities navigating their place in the Church. The place we’re supposed to come home to, to be known in, doesn’t know how and sometimes doesn’t care how to treat us with the dignity we deserve.