News from the Gay, Lesbian, and Affirming Disciples Alliance

Contents: November 2007

Family Trees: African American Disciples Pastors and Dialog

by Vance Martin, GLAD Council Member

"We all know that, if we shake our family tree...."  With a dramatic pause, Dr. Timothy James, Deputy General Minister and President and Administrative Secretary of the National Convocation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), invited a gathering of African American Disciples pastors and laity to become seriously involved in the church-wide dialogue about the presence and meaning of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons within the Body of Christ.  The event was a reception on October 13 for Dr. James, sponsored by my congregation, United Christian Church of Los Angeles, on the occasion of its annual Homecoming celebration. Everyone present understood the meaning of the pause: that African American families --- as is true of other racial/ethnic groups --- are not (if you’ll pardon the mouthful) monolithically heteronormative. They, too, represent, and struggle to accept and embrace, a spectrum of sexualities and gender identities. The Disciples executive made it clear that black clergy and laity must contribute their voices to the conversation, at all manifestations of the church, and share in an authentic process of discernment.

During the mounting controversy over U.S. involvement in the Southeast Asian conflict in the 1960s, Martin Luther King, Jr. was publicly criticized by some within the Civil Rights movement for linking this country’s history of racial injustice to what he deemed to be its misguided ventures in Viet Nam. As usual, his proclamation was prophetic. Approximately thirty years later, his wife, Coretta, clearly acknowledging the risk she was taking, uttered these words:

I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people and I should stick to the issue of racial justice. But, I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King, Jr. said, ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’ I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King, Jr’s, dream to make room at the table of brother-and-sisterhood for lesbian and gay people.

The Disciples community of faith is a table of remembrance, set for all in a wonderful grove of family trees. Let us love one another. The time is now!