Jesus called me into ministry.
The institutional church has put me through hell.
The keepers of the normative have always tried to stand in my way.
Having spent years in discernment, I will never forget the first question. “Do you believe in a literal hell?” After an afternoon of similar questions, I passed my ordination council. When the service started, I sat in the front. Dozens of men placed their hands on my head. At the end, my dearest mentor stood up and declared me “a strange man ordained to a strange ministry for a strange world.”
Ten years after my ordination, Jesus is still calling me.
The institutional church still tries to block my work.
The marginalized and oppressed always guide me through.
Just this past week, I felt the hands again. One by one, the children of God at the Church at the Table in Fort Worth stopped to affirm and celebrate my ministry. In the midst of the reverence of it all, Jesus showed up. One of my dear friends shouted out, “Keep blowing shit up baby!”
I will.
Amen.
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