It’s the integrity of the flock as a whole. I like this paragraph:īut what’s at stake for Jesus in this situation isn’t just that one single lost sheep, and it’s not just the ninety-nine back home. Jesus talked about them, and the evangelist Philip was sent by the Holy Spirit specifically to the Ethiopian eunuch. And yet God gives them in this passage a name, legacy, family, acceptance, and blessing.Īnd of course there is more about eunuchs in the Bible. He goes on to explain why eunuchs, especially after the Babylonian exile, were in a place similar to transgender people today. Yet here was God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, quieting those fears and promising an unequivocal welcome. Their fear of separation, fear of being forgotten, fear of being kept out of God’s family – all based on identities as unchosen as the place of their birth and as intrinsic as the shape of their body. I felt an immediate connection to the eunuch and the foreigner. I could swear I had never heard these verses before in my life, despite having read through the book of Isaiah for a class only the year before. for my house shall be called a house of prayer I will give, in my house and within my walls, “The Lord will surely separate me from his people” “Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say, I was especially touched by the author’s description of how he found life in the passage Isaiah 56:3-8. But I hadn’t realized how much there is specifically for those who don’t fit gender norms. I knew that the Bible does not speak against being transgender.

I’m not going to repeat every argument why it is not biblical to reject transgender people or to require that gender dysphoria is the one medical condition that should not receive medical treatment of any kind.

He talks about the good it does transgender people when their churches accept them – but also the good it brings to churches when they embrace their transgender members. He brings in the voices of many other transgender people. This book is written by a transgender pastor. At the same time, I’ve read happy stories of what happens when people transition with love and acceptance from their faith communities. I’ve heard many sad stories of what happens when a church family rejects a transgender person and the harm it causes their entire families. I’m also in a Facebook group for mothers of transgender children. I've seen for myself this isn't some kind of delusional temporary whim. My own oldest child is a transgender woman. I picked this book up from the library, and the very next day was glad I did, having a reason to defend transgender people to some well-meaning Christian friends.

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