Dear Rainbow Circle Friends,
My two-week visit to Tbilisi, Georgia, and the Peace Cathedral has come to an end. Time spent with Bishops Malkhaz, Rusudan, and the extended community of the Peace Cathedral was rich and has me considering ways AWAB may continue to cultivate a relationship with this courageous work. More broadly, I’m also considering the larger welcoming and affirming network AWAB may be part of as we recognize the connections and convictions we share with people globally. AWAB already has connections with a ministry on the African continent. We have a member congregation and supporters in Canada. There is a new congregation forming in Puerto Rico with which we may soon have a formal relationship. And there’s even a coalition of welcoming and affirming Baptists in Great Britain with whom we share in collaborative events.
As I think about the potential and possible partnerships AWAB is making and yet to make, I consider how AWAB is growing. We’ve grown in our Board, staff, membership, programming, and in our all around vision for ministry. I am so grateful to see how far we’ve come organizationally and I’m excited to see how we can maintain and expand even more the work we’re about.
It’s a tricky thing to grow an organization like AWAB. I wish there was a magic wand we could wave allowing us all of the resources to do everything we want and need to do TODAY. My visit with the Peace Cathedral has reminded me that we need remain faithful to the work before us and as we do this work, little by little, we will continue to create the necessary framework to sustain and support our ministry of welcome and affirmation to all of God’s children.
My final picture to share from this remarkable visit with Baptists in Georgia is of members of our visiting group with two human rights activists who provide leadership to the LGBTQ+ community in Tbilisi. The queer community is under attack there. Individuals literally fear for their lives. This year’s Pride festivities have been canceled on account of anticipated violence related to anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. Members of the queer community can choose to move out of the country to safer cities to live, or if they choose to remain, as the two activists with whom we met have decided, they must live ever so carefully knowing that at any moment they could be attacked, arrested, or even killed. These activists, and those who join with them, are remarkably courageous and model a way of inclusion that’s an inspiration, including the Peace Cathedral.
Not to be an alarmist, but in truth, the freedoms we’ve come to know on our side of the world for queer folk, could be drastically reversed depending on upcoming election results. As we stand in solidarity with our queer kindred on the other side of the world and the realities they face, may we stand together still on our side of the world so that all of God’s children can live their true and authentic selves, fully and freely.
Organizations like AWAB are needed perhaps unlike ever before. Together we stand the chance of moving hearts, and with hearts moved, so much more can come into place for queer folk and allies alike.
Your Rainbow Circle support is helping us do what we can’t do alone. Thank you. You are helping us grow and making it possible even for lives to be saved.
