Jul 29, 2005  |  By: REV. ABENA McCRAY  | COMMENTS     

“IT WAS GOD who made me, and not me myself.”

After hearing news reports, and reading hundreds of e-mails about the toxic words spewed from the pulpit of Rev. Willie Wilson in the nation’s capitol, I felt compelled to make a statement.

I must stand in defense of and be a voice for women, for “ain’t I a woman?” How soon some forget the blood, sweat, tears and dreams of our mothers, sisters, and women of our communities woven into the fabric of our families, communities and society.

Unprogressive people relegated women to the fringes of community life with our roles defined, for the most part, along a patriarchal system, limiting us to childbearing and housekeeping responsibilities. In the past we were treated as property, to be counted along with acres of land, houses and cattle.

We can still see the contribution of women to the growth and development of our societies and religious life from diaries, letters, literature, art, historical accounts and other writing considered sacred. Is it not time for us in the 21st century to embrace, celebrate and respect the many accomplishments of all women?

AS A WOMAN who is African American, a lesbian and a pastor, I am troubled by the malicious remarks made by Rev. Wilson on July 3. I am glad to learn, however, that some in his congregation were offended by his words and courageously shared the recording with the community at large.

Wilson’s hateful speech is strikingly inconsistent with his past actions. Several years ago, he invited members of the African-American local GLBTQ community into his sanctuary for a healing discussion around inclusivity. After much debate, it was the elder women of the church who stood and brought order to the situation.

I am deeply troubled by any spiritual leader who will say one thing today and do something very different tomorrow. It is difficult to comprehend how someone who professes to be created in the image of God would promote such repulsive speech.

My Bible says that Jesus’ last and most profound message was “to love your neighbor as I have loved you.” Where is the love in Wilson’s message on July 3?

I likewise find it inappropriate for an ordained reverend to stand in a pulpit and spew out such hatred and take on a posture of ungodliness within the house of God. What kind of shepherd herds the flock in such a manner?

What Wilson has done is set himself up for divine judgment and criticism from colleagues and the community. God has a way of revealing who and what a person is.

The reality is that Wilson has shown that his leadership skills and hatred for some people would never make him a suitable politician for our city and make him a questionable member of the clergy.

WHAT I FOUND most interesting is that Wilson’s words, broadcast over local radio and television stations, sounded more personal than a message to feed the flock on Sunday morning. Was he not there to deliver a spiritual word — to feed the flock entrusted to his care? Or was he using the pulpit to unleash a personal challenge?

For Wilson to say his son could not find a date for his prom based on the fact that all the females in his school were lesbians seems as far fetched as the story of Sodom and Gomorrah being used to speak to homosexuality, when it really speaks to inhospitality.

Wilson’s sermon was full of references to the private and intimate behaviors of same-gender loving couples. How Wilson gathers his data to make such statements as if they are facts is a mystery to me.

I do know that — as someone who is not a practicing homosexual but an accomplished one — his descriptions were a bit distorted. Most lesbians I know are as uninterested in objects in the bedroom as they are hatred in their church.

Lesbian relationships pose little threat to “self-defined” black men and women secure in their sexual orientation. But loving relationships among women do pose a tremendous threat to systems of intersecting oppression.

For lesbians, generating loving “mirrors” for one another through healthy relationships will continue to deconstruct all the “isms” that can keep all women down, including heterosexism.