God’s Love Made Real

A man stood in line on a cold, rainy Wednesday evening in Union Square, waiting to receive ashes and prayer. When he got to the front of the line, he told the pastor that two years prior, both his wife and son had been killed. Imagine the grief and pain. For two years, he was not able to set foot in church because he was too angry. He was angry at God. The pastor there listened. Then he shared with him just a few of the stories in scripture of others who were angry with God. He assured the man that God could take his anger and pain and that God loved him through all of it. They prayed and cried together. Then the man said, “I have not been able to go to church for two years, but today the church came to me.”

This past August, I had the opportunity to experience the Churchwide Assembly in Columbus as a voting member. I was, at the time, Director of Youth and Family at an ELCA congregation in Tampa. I had only experienced my own congregation and didn’t have a full understanding of the ELCA or what the Church did on a National/International level as a denomination and organization. Before beginning that position in June of 2021, I had never heard of the ELCA despite growing up with a religious background experiencing over 5 different denominations of the Christian faith. Lutheranism wasn’t any different in my eyes than Baptist, United Methodist, or Non-denominational. I thought it was all the same. Being a Black queer woman, I haven’t seen myself represented that much in any church’s leadership, in any denomination I’ve been a part of. When I saw all the people and groups represented in leadership, the intentionality of language used, the humility, the effort being made to grow and learn and bring awareness and accountability, I just was so floored. Sometimes I still can’t believe something like the ELCA exists. It was at the Assembly I said to myself, to my friends, and to God: I feel like this is a place where I can be my full self, be seen as me, and fully participate in the works happening here without having to renounce pieces of myself. I HAVE TO FIND A WAY TO WORK FOR THE ELCA!