A Personal Testimony

On Pentecost Sunday, I was again privileged to be part of the monthly national worship service of Sunshine Cathedral Jamaica.
I was heartened by the fact that yet again as gay, lesbian, bisexual persons, we had come together with our children and friends to worship in Spirit and in truth. We were open and receptive to the down pouring of the Holy Spirit and we certainly were not disappointed!!!

At sometime during the service I had to “hit” myself and ask “Is this really happening? …and here in Jamaica!!” It continues to astound and impress me that as persons from different socio economic groups, different geographical locations and even religious backgrounds, we simply come together to worship.

As I often do at these services, I go to another “place” and start to wonder what motivates individuals to come to these worship celebrations.
Why do we still come despite the constant threat that overhangs people’s lives and despite the risk factor that is included?
During that time I have fed myself with many different sophisticated answers
§ Creating a safe space emerging
§ Fulfilling a quest for spiritual direction and fulfillment
§ Creating and shaping the LGBT political agenda
§ Blah blah blah!!
At the very least, I have to concede that different persons come for and with different needs. What do we all have in common though?
The truth is that the main Driving Force is the faith-factor in which we are rooted and grounded and which gives the blessed assurance, the promise that better must come for the LGBT community here in Jamaica and in the region. As I look around our worship place I see Christine for example who is always present and who has had to flee from one town because of threats on her life. She also witnessed the violence at the funeral of one of her colleagues and I am sure has much much more to tell. But for her the faith-factor says that better will and must come. We hope that it will happen in our life time but we are faith-filled that happen, it must.

Sarah, Chris, Mary, Carl, Dorrett, Michael all know that the day will come (and is fast approaching) when LGBT persons will be able to live in freedom and peace.
Confident in the fact that we are children of God with a divine heritage, we know that God has no option but to be God and to protect and provide for our needs including our safety. We know that because it is one of the promises made to us as a chosen people, a royal nation, a people set apart. And we know too well how much we fit that description.

We are comforted by the old hymn Standing on the Promises of God My Saviour and especially the part of which says “Sanding on the promises that cannot fail”
Those promises have not changed, cannot be changed and will never change and …yes, they will stand even for us as LGBT persons. We will continue to stand secure in those very promises.

Each month we come to worship as a national body with the unchangeable faith and firmly planted in the promise that we will be nourished spiritually and that, like the woman at the well, we will draw from the well spring of salvation, the spiritual nourishment that will make us go away singing and come back bringing others for that spiritual nourishment that wells up for each and everyone of us. The promise and the evidence in our lives is that it is out of this spiritual nourishment that we are able to live on a daily basis. That nourishment is what keeps us focused and alive. That nourishment reinforces and refreshes us and it is from that nourishment that we pull strength and comfort. That does not mean that we are not bothered by the events around us. They are scary. Each time some violence is meted out to one of our members, we cringe and worry for our own safety.


But our faith dictates that we cannot be daunted and reside in that mode for ever. We must go on in and by faith. We must and will secure if nothing else, our own individual spiritual freedom.

As mundane as seems, it is practical faith that brings us together, it is the faith in action that is at work as we travel to and from theses worship services That faith is what we rely on to be able to reach back home safely. Faith is also evidence in the belief that God is in control and that all is good. What is seen as bravery in this defiant coming together is in fact for many of us absolute childlike.

Faith will lead to our deliverance.