Day of Silence
Trinity School has
decided to support students and faculty who want to participate in this day. (We also support students and faculty who choose not to participate, and
we are not endorsing GLSEN.) Upper School Director Warren Gould wrote a helpful
and articulate explanation of the school’s
decision and position on this and sent it to the students and parents in our
Upper School–the Day is mostly an Upper School thing at Trinity.
Yesterday I
attended a gathering of students and faculty in preparation for this day. We were all asked why we were participating in the day, and at the end we
prayed together. I am very grateful for that time together, and I think
it might be important for me, both as the Head of School and as a Christian, to
say why I am particpating in this day. (Full disclosure: I cannot pull
off a day of silence, but I am practicing my silence in a limited way and am
wanting to make my support as an ally public.)
The first thing to
be said is that this is hard and complicated territory for us all: for parents
who are wondering about the sexual identity formation of their adolescents; for
LGBTQ students who are not ready to be out; for faculty who want to support
students but are not sure how to do that; for friends who want to be allies but
have questions about sexual identity and the Bible; for many people in our
community who want to love all Trinity students and who read their Bibles in a
traditional interpretation about homosexuality.
I am one of those
traditionalists. I’ve tried hard over the last several years to read the
Scriptures with my LGBTQ brothers and sisters who take what is called an “open
and affirming” interpretation of Scripture. I’ve tried to follow Jim
Brownson’s understanding of Romans 1. I’ve listened to and read Matthew Vines and his Reformation
Project. I’ve imagined my own radical
transformation of ethics in this area running in parallel with Peter’s reversal
of his certainty in Acts 10 and 11 and asked myself if the Spirit could be
speaking to the church today is in a similar way. And I’ve tried to
understand how the Biblical melody of Christian marriage might be transposed
into a same-sex key. But I can’t get
there.
Nevertheless, I am
supporting this day because I want every member of Trinity School to be valued
and respected regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender
expression.
I don’t think that
has been true for past Trinity students, nor is it true for current students. People throw around “that’s so gay” without thinking of the harm it
does. Students who are growing up as
sexual minorities are expending enormous energy just to keep it together and
survive, leaving them fewer resources to learn their math or write their
humanities papers.
And, most of all, I
am supporting this day because I think that the evangelical church owes its
LGBTQ sons and daughters an apology for the fact that we have somehow garbled
the message of Jesus’ love for everyone. We who hold a trandionalist view
on these matters have not learned from Jesus how to love as Jesus loved--I
haven’t. Too many LGBTQ students have
felt that they had to choose between Jesus and being honest and true to
themselves. This is complicated, very complicated, and I cannot say
everything here. But this much needs to
be said: I long for Trinity School to be a place where every student finds
guides, friends, and allies in a quest to follow Jesus. Where every student sees and knows the love
of Christ in its radically transforming way. I hope that you will join me
in praying and working for that--whether you are Side A or Side B or Side
Whatever. We are all of us, as Charlotte
Mason would say, born persons.
I hope that this
Day helps Trinity talk about these things in a new and redemptive way.
Comments