Jim Coppoc.

Several years back, a band I was part of was scheduled to play a small coffee shop in San Pedro, California, where the lead singer got her start. When we got there, we found out the venue had accidentally double booked us with an open mic. As the locals drifted in and started to engage, we came to a compromise – there would be an open mic, but our band would feature. We sang together and laughed together. I shared some spoken word. In the end, we had an incredible night, and made a couple new friends. We’ve been in touch ever since.

Earlier today, one of those friends messaged me on Facebook to ask for help understanding her niece’s partner’s “they/them” pronouns. She trusted me. She counted on me. And this is ministry.

Before I dive into the theology, here is a brief reality check on the stakes: a recent study by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law found that 81% of transgender adults in the U.S. have thought about suicide, 42% have attempted it, and 56% have engaged in other forms of self harm. This is not to mention the many other health and lifestyle risks trans people face, from an increased risk of domestic violence to turning to alcohol or drugs out of despair. Nearly every study that looks at resilience factors has determined “natural supports,” such as family, can make an enormous difference in the outcomes. So when we are talking about how an aunt can show tangible support for her gender-neutral relative, there is at least some chance we are talking about a life and death situation.

Of course, organized religion has a complicated relationship with Gender and Sexual Minorities (GSM). There are theocratic corners of the Earth where GSM face the death penalty, formally or informally. There are Christian churches where GSM are shunned. There are evangelical politicians right now legislating everything from story time to bathroom access just to get sound bites on the evening news. But there are also progressive, inclusive, welcoming churches like mine, where GSM are just as welcomed, wanted and loved as any other human. Perhaps more – because the need is greater among those who are rejected elsewhere.

The Bible speaks to these issues again and again. I have already expended enough ink elsewhere debating the “clobber passages,” or bits of scripture taken out of context to preach discrimination against Gender and Sexual Minorities, but it might be worth a quick review of where GSM are lifted up in the Christian Bible.

The best known GSM of Jesus’ era was the eunuch, which in scripture refers both to those assigned male at birth who are later castrated, and to those who are born intersex, the 1.7% of the human population born with genitals that don’t fall into the traditional binary. As Jesus puts it in the Gospel of Matthew, “there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.” This aligns with the prophet Isaiah, who claims God will build a special monument “and a name better than sons and daughters” for faithful eunuchs in heaven.

Perhaps the best known story involving a eunuch in the early Christian movement comes from the eighth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. An angel told Philip the Apostle that he needed to travel the road to Gaza. When Philip got there, he found an Ethiopian eunuch reading scripture. The Spirit moved Philip to start a dialogue. By the end of the dialogue, Philip baptized the Ethiopian eunuch – both a racial and a sexual minority – into the Christian church, showing by his “Acts” that GSM are in fact welcome in the actual movement Jesus began.

Gender and sexual minorities belong in the Christian church. Transgendered people belong in the Christian church. Intersex and gender fluid and gay and straight and bisexual and pansexual and demisexual and asexual people belong in the Christian church. “Let anyone accept this who can.”

And as for the ministry of helping my friend – the more of us who consistently show up and let the world know there is real love here, the more others will trust us to help. Literal lives are at stake. This is the work we are called to do.

Jim Coppoc serves the Ripley United Church of Christ at 400 S. Main St. in Traer. He lives in Ames and Traer, and also holds a “day job” as Director of Integrated Health Services for Center Associates in Marshalltown and Toledo. Jim can be found online at www.facebook.com/jim.at.ripley.