I see my job as a seminary student to renew the hope within a hurting and lonely people. My special mission is to renew the hope in gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people who have been disowned by the church. In that act of abandonment, they find themselves abandoning any sense of faith. I liken this restoring of hope to the gentrification of the slums. When hope returns to an area, the area begins to show the signs of renewal and revitalization.
People come in and open businesses, fix up homes and improve the roads and landscaping.
They create a spiritual place of hope and love out a place of desolation and despair. As gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people, we sorely need some urban renewal in our desolate and despairing souls. The first step is to remember that there is no place where God is absent. God is always here, waiting to be recognized as the source of all things. When we realize God is all around us then the sharp things are blunted, the knots are untied, the shades are turned bright and we are ultimately united as one.