Ordination

 

‘When we walk together in a good way,

We learn to see the world

Through two eyes

When we walk together

In a good way on Turtle Island,

We learn we are all connected.

We are never alone.

We need each other.

Mawikwayk.

Together, we are strong.’

Elder Albert D Marshall and Louise Zimanyi, Walking Together

 

These words, and many others, were placed, gently, tentatively in my hands by a person I had never met, a Canadian, Sheri, who had committed her work to the ongoing Truth and Reconciliation context in Canada (a national process to ensure that Canada clearly documents and learns from the experience of indigenous people who suffered sustained abuse and harm in residential schools). As she clasped my hand, having never met before, she repeated a version of the words that she’d written in the front of the book she’d placed in my hands, 

‘We are so blessed to be walking together with you’.

As person after person who I had not met before, but had heard us speak, listened to our sermons, read some of what we’d written, shared personal stories of the relationship we’d built and the impact of our voice, internally I asked myself over and over again: ‘How did this happen? How is this possible?’

Where to begin?

How had two Queer Baptist leaders from the UK, denied ordination in the UK by virtue of sexuality, by virtue of implicit identity, ended up surrounded by international expressions of Baptist heritage? Quintessential Baptist heritage – radical faith, radical love, at the edges, reaching to places unseen and to the margins, as many would argue Jesus had done; exemplified in Jesus revealing himself to an ostracised Samaritan woman sat by a well in the midday sun (Luke 10:25-37). 

How unexpected to find ourselves surrounded by people physically and virtually in attendance from many parts of the globe, celebrating our ordination. LGBT+ people being gifted the opportunity to walk in equity beside our straight peers, as ordained ministers. How was this possible?

Simply put, Luke and Andrea had journeyed together with Canadian Association for Baptist Freedoms, separated by many miles for several years and then meeting together in person for the first time in October 2023. We had journeyed together, walked together, talking over the challenges of building safer church environments for all and initiating Creating Sanctuary pilots across Canada with local leaders spread across this vast country. We had reflected together on what our collective leadership might look like, what we might go onto to grow and build together, how we might support each other and provide mutual accountability too. 

Moved by strong conviction and a sense of deep injustice, Canadian leaders had prayerfully and carefully considered what they might do to address their perception of a profound injustice in the lack of route to Baptist ordination for Luke and Andrea in the UK. Love, prayer and an unrelenting sense of justice achieved what UK leaders had been unable to reach agreement to build – a welcoming space of love, so poignant in a national context of truth and reconciliation, where direct and honest conversations about the impact of racial injustice, colonialism and the misuse of faith, were overtly progressed across the country.

We experienced an overwhelming expression of unrelenting love, welcome and belonging.

We were seen, we were met, we were received – not as a problem, a challenge, not with sadness or regret, or hostility and hate, as we are so used to in the UK – but with a regard that with ‘two eyes’: saw all of us, embraced our whole selves in God and welcomed the journey of faith that had shaped us both.

There are no words that will ever express the beauty of the ordination ceremony, but the pictures and link attached to this blog will give you an insight of the beauty, depth and emotion in the service.

We offer our heartfelt thanks to the grace and kindness of our CABF Canadian siblings and we invite you to walk with us too, as together we look forward with anticipation, to see where the path will take us.

Mawikwayk.

Together we are strong.

 

Andrea King - Director, Strategy and Safeguarding