Jesus at the Pride Parade
By Lenora Rand
Guess what…last year…
I saw Jesus at the pride parade.
It’s true.
Dancing and weeping and shouting, hugging everyone
and singing
A Christ as queer as they come.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
And I heard Jesus calling out to everyone
The marchers and the watchers, even the haters
Tossing blessings like confetti:
Blessings on you who love glitter and rainbows.
Eye shadow and spandex.
Show tunes and leather.
Blessings on you who are still learning to love the skin you’re in
And blessed are you
who thirst for love and laughter and
the deep in your bones belief that who you are is
a holy and altogether lovely child of God.
Blessed are you whatever label you give yourself
Gay, lesbian, bi or pan, intersex, trans, ace,
non-conforming, straight, cis, yet to be determined…
You are precious in my sight.
Precious. And blessed.
Blessed are you who are weary and worn.
Who are tired of the fight, yet still somehow, fighting,
with the radical power of love,
Always only love…
for a better world
for everyone.
You are truly blessed.
Rejoice and be exceedingly glad,
Let your joy reverberate, echo…earthquake us into a new day.
Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, Because you are mine, I am yours.
And yes, no matter what you may have heard to the contrary
You are not alone.
And yes, yes, a thousand times yes,
You belong here.
1 comment
Gillian Wallace
There aren’t enough words for how much I love this! Thank you. Thank you so much for writing it and for sharing it. We’re going to be reading it in our Anglican church in Ottawa, Canada this morning as part of our Pride service. And I just know it will have people weeping because of the sheer power of the radical love and acceptance that I truly believe you speak for Jesus here.