Allyship in Turbulent Times

“Allyship in Turbulent Waters”

June 22, 2025

Genesis 9:13-17; 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Second Sunday after Pentecost 

Genesis 9:13-17

13 I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we no longer know him in that way. 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake God made the one who knew no sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Yesterday evening I thought I would get a head start on decorating here for our service and hang these colorful buntings.  I checked the weather since the colorful buntings are super strong.  All night long, clear and dry.  So I hung them up in the branches.  

Later when I sat down to write my sermon (obviously you can see that decorating was my first priority, writing my sermon my second….), there came across my screen the slight and growing possibility that it would thunderstorm overnight.  

On top of that, there was news that our country had, unprovoked, entered into a war with bombings.  I wondered as I sat there, what do you say on Pride Sunday when the rain pulls down your decorations and your country goes to war?  How do you salvage and preserve the good news? 

In early May of 2024, The United Methodist Church decided that sexual orientation and gender identity would no longer be a barrier to marriage in the church and it would no longer be a barrier to ordination within the United Methodist Church. This was only one year ago. And the path even to this point has been fraught with heart-breaking challenges.

Last year at this time we celebrated the United Methodist Church’s decision and this year we are celebrating our first Pride Sunday.  Some of you may have come today knowing quite a bit about Pride.  Some of us came today knowing very little about Pride.  And some of us come today not sure what to expect but we’re here to learn what we can. So, let’s begin with a bit of background.

Our neighbors to the north, the United Church of Canada has been celebrating Pride for many years in its churches.  And their liturgy for this day helps us define the meaning of having a Pride Sunday.  “Pride is a positive stance against discrimination and violence toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and gender-fluid people. Pride is also a chance to promote self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and fundamental human rights, and to celebrate in a safe environment.

“The Pride Parade has its roots in a 1970 march in New York City, which marked this LGBTQ community’s first resistance to police brutality, oppression, and human rights violations that had resulted in the Stonewall riots a year earlier, in 1969. Since the 1980s, this liberation movement has morphed into the Pride movement. Parades, festivities, and celebrations are held to mark improved rights for this marginalized community, supported by allies of all walks of life, as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people.” 

It's important for churches to also honor and celebrate Pride because the church has been one of the deepest sources of pain and marginalization of the LBTQIA+ community.  The church has justified the shunning and shaming of this community based on interpretations of scripture that do not reflect the heart of God and misconstrue original cultural context.  Our scripture should be a wellspring of nourishment.  But sometimes it has been used as a sacred weapon to hurt people who are trying to just be who God created them to be.  

This is why Pride must be part of our church life.  A reclamation and reconciliation of sacred worth for all people. We are talking about this in church, though, not just as a way of telling the truth about harm that has happened, but also as a means for empowering the church to be different going forward.   God has entrusted to us the process of reconciliation as our passage from 2 Corinthians says.    A new creation is possible in Christ.  We may not have gotten it right in the past, but today is always a new day.  

A couple weeks ago on Pentecost a few of us went to the Albany Pride Festival.   I will confess to thinking quite a lot about what I should wear.  Maybe everyone does?  I don’t know.  This is where I landed, though, with my attire:  Because the church and church leaders have often been such a source of shame and pain for LGBTQ+ community, I wanted to show up as a visibly Christian leader who supports not shames.  So I wore my clergy collar and over it I wore a shirt from a Kentucky shirt- maker that I love and this is what it said:  “Pretty Fly for an Ally.”   I wore it, but also I wondered, is it as true as it could possibly be?    If I say that I’m an ally, what does that mean? 

I appreciate that our Inclusive CUMC team suggested that we talk about allyship here today.  It’s easy to put up words on our website and wear a shirt and put a rainbow flag out by our sign on the corner.  But allyship is more than that.  Being a good ally is less about what we say about ourselves and more about what we do.  

1. It’s important to show up. As allies we can’t just wait for the LGBTQIA+ community to come into our space where we can then welcome them. How can we leave the walls of our church and be a presence of love in other spaces?

2. It’s important to know when to speak up and when to shut up. It’s important for allies to speak up in spaces where they have privilege and influence... to stand up for the rights of the marginalized and advocate for their respect. But when you’re in spaces where LGBTQIA+ folks are themselves leading, quiet your own self and listen. 

3. Do the work of educating yourself. It’s not the queer community’s responsibility to educate us. Being an ally means taking the initiative to learn what you don’t know by reading books, watching documentaries, attending workshops, or seeking out articles to read about our questions. Personal questions posed directly to a member of the LGBTQIA+ community about intimacy, coming out, or surgeries are never appropriate. Want some advice about what allies should ask their LGBTQIA+ friends and neighbors? Ask them what movie they last saw, what their favorite restaurant is. Ask about their kids or their plans for the summer. 

4. Finally, know the Bible. The Holy Scripture is often at the center of arguments used by those who want to exclude. Using specific scripture that relate to human sexuality, marriage, and same-gender attraction are often fast ways to end dialogue and enforce exclusion. For a long time, “cherry-picking” the Bible has been used to support oppression and injustice of all kinds, including slavery, Anti-Semitism, the genocide of indigenous peoples, and violence against women. The Bible does say hard and harmful things, so it is essential that Christian allies develop an understanding of scripture that can help protect our LGBTQIA+ siblings. So, take that next bible study at your church. For additional resources on the Bible and it's "clobber passages" watch the documentary 1946 or read the book "Unclobber" by Colby Martin.

Above all else, I want you to remember this statistic: having one accepting adult in your life can reduce an LGBTQIA+ young person’s changes of suicide by 40 percent.  One person who accepts them for who they are.  This is what it means to be an ally.  To save lives.   

I wondered last night if it was possible to celebrate anything in church today.  The world is so relentlessly difficult right now.  But what the Pride movement has taught me is that in the face of adversity, celebrating who we are called to be and holding space for everyone’s story to be lifted up is the only way through a relentlessly difficult world. Pride was born out of adversity.  Pride survives adversity.  Pride leads us out of adversity. To celebrate in the face of turbulence is to kindle the good news of Jesus who challenged us to always lift up those who are on the margins, those who have been left out, those who have known adversity.  We don’t do this just when it’s easy.  In fact, when it’s hard and when the world around us feels like it’s falling apart, our celebration should just get bigger.  We pick up the colors that have been blown down by thunderstorms and we tie them back together again.  Again and again and again.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Anna