Heartbreaking.
We often say this when we hear news of another gay teenager committing suicide. We often experience regret and remorse for not being there, thinking there was something we could have done.
Recently one hit close to my community of faith here in Nashville, Tennessee. A teenager in Cheatham County, Tennessee was bullied to the point of taking his own life. This is not far outside of the Nashville Metro area. Several church members either work or live in that county.
One member actually works with the father of Jacob Rogers.
If you haven't heard about the story, here is a link to the news account.
Teen's Suicide Raises Awareness
(Note. I write this from the perspective of a Southern, Christian, Gay Man. Please respect my faith. We all have our faith paths, and I don't want this to start a religious pie fight. I feel there is something for everyone in this regardless of your faith path)
More after the squiggle
At the candlelight vigil, there were over 300 people there. Pastor Cindy was the only pastor there. The organizer called over 30 churches and none would help. None would even donate candles for the vigil.
This bothers me a great deal. These are not the virtues espoused by Jesus. He spent the majority of his ministry with the outcast and socially unacceptable. He told parables that portrayed the despised as heroes. (Samaritans were hated. That parable has lost much of it's shock value and power. Imagine the same story told in an Evangelical church as a gay Muslim being the hero.)
The family and community are hurting, and not one of the churches in Cheatham county would be there to support the family and friends in this time of loss. No other churches from Nashville reached out other than ours.
I guess it would be helpful to give you some more background on Pastor Cindy and our church. Pastor Cindy is the pastor of our church, Holy Trinity Community Church. Holy Trinity Community Church, UCC Website We are an open and affirming congregation with a diverse base. We are about 80% GLBT (both MTF and FTM on the T part) and we average between 300-350 people a Sunday. Even though the church is in Nashville, members come from many different places within a 2.5 hour radius.
I share that so you know where Cindy was coming from when she delivered this sermon. I wanted to share this with this community. There are some specific discussions based on things going on with our church, but I felt it would be good to share. (Especially talking about the capital campaign...You can ignore those parts)
No Room For Them - Podcast
The reasons I felt this was important, is sometimes we ignore the needs of GLBT individuals in "red" rural areas. There is no room for them in the discussion because it is too hard. It isn't easy to do what is needed, but as this instance reminded us, It is just as important.
As Horace Boothroyd III spoke against in a righteously indignant rant (Barney Frank Just Pissed Me Off), we shouldn't ignore these areas because it is hard. Many gay rights advocates ignore Transgender issues because it is too hard. Human rights are human rights no matter what form that human comes in.
Everyone deserves to be at the table. No matter who we are, where we come from, or what our life circumstances are, we are all human and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.
And if anyone is to be the one inviting people to the table, it is those who have previously been rejected from that table. GL folks should be embracing the B's and the T's with no exceptions. Here is another sermon related to that. (Once again...Ignore the church specific campaign information)
IMAGINE Eating at the King's Table
Another note...Jacob was living with his grandmother, not because he was kicked out of the house, but because she needed help after his grandfather passed away. This has been reported incorrectly in some outlets.
(I'm bad at tagging as I am still new to this. Any help to better tag it would be helpful. Thanks! PTL)