Pictured L to R: AWAB Board Members Aubin Petersen and Scott Green, ABCUSA Pastor and national leader Zina Jacque, and I
Dear Rainbow Circle,
Do you need to be encouraged? Well, I found myself encouraged in a number of ways this past weekend as I traveled to Washington, DC, to join AWAB Board Member Scott Green and his husband, Garrett, for the annual HRC (Human Rights Campaign) National Dinner. Along with a group of guests hosted by Scott and Garrett, including AWAB Board Member Aubin Petersen, and her husband, Mark, we shared meals and time together in meaningful ways. I stayed in the home of AWAB friend and supporter, Paul Dwyer. On Friday evening Paul hosted a meal for a gathering of friends, most of whom had a Baptist connection of one kind or another. After our meal, we shared with each other some of our own personal stories. During this time, it was evident to me how our Baptist connections really did bring us together.
Pictured L to R: Scott Green his husband, Garrett, and I
Too often, our “Baptist” identity gets a bad rap. When people hear the word “Baptist” it’s easy for them to think we have a socially, politically, and theologically very conservative faith. Well, I was encouraged this weekend by the Baptists with whom I got to spend time. In more than a couple conversations I was reminded how freeing and dynamic it really is to be Baptist. To be Baptist, in the historical sense, is to affirm our Baptist liberties, or as Walter Shurden describes them, our four, fragile, Baptist freedoms: Bible Freedom, Soul Freedom, Church Freedom, and Religious Freedom.
Without getting into a long dissertation about these freedoms here, it’s suffice to say that I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t want to be a Baptist! Our Baptist freedoms as described by Shurden invite us to live a faith rooted in love and justice in the most freeing of ways. We need not conform to archaic rules and regulations. We can honor individuality. We can celebrate the faith traditions of others. And along with 3500+ people gathered for HRC festivities, we did just this. We celebrated the “freedom” to be afforded all humans, no matter their sexual orientation, gender identity, expression of faith, or lack thereof.
Pictured L to R: Me with Paul Dwyer, and Aubin & Mark Petersen
I was reminded when Baptists get together, and together with many, many others, we can have a good time. In good Baptist fashion, I concluded my weekend of Baptist connections by visiting AWAB member congregation, Calvary Baptist Church, co-pastored by wives, Rev. Maria Swearingen and Rev. Sally Sarratt. In its preamble to its values statement, Calvary Baptist Church communicates: We affirm that God celebrates the creative diversity of God’s kin-dom, loving people of every color, faith, nationality, immigration status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, physical and cognitive ability, and economic status. As folk gathered for worship and fellowship, it was encouraging to me to see how Calvary Baptist Church truly lives out this value.
Pictured L to R: Me, with Co-Pastors Sally Sarratt and Maria Swearingen
It was good to be with Baptist kindred this weekend, at HRC and at CBC! May I encourage you to keep being Baptist…especially when others like to say what Baptists can and cannot be. Unless we’re really committed to “freedom,” I’m not sure how Baptist we can fully be.
AWAB is honored to help congregations and communities across the Baptist landscape to keep being Baptists. Your financial support helps us in this way. And…your support is helping more people than you know live into a freeing, Baptist tradition that welcomes us each to be who God has made us to be. And this, to me, is encouragement at its best. Thank you for helping make this so!
Until Next Time,
Brian ~