From the Office of the Bishop

Dear Beloved of the Diocese of Olympia,

The Collect for Ash Wednesday begins: “Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made…” As I’ve been praying through the Daily Office this Lent using the Venite app, that prayer has appeared every day as the “Seasonal Collect.” The phrase “you hate nothing you have made” has been sticking with me these past five weeks.

In part it’s because that’s not the language we hear from those who ascribe to White Christian Nationalism and who have the national microphone right now. In fact, we hear the opposite from them, that God hates a great deal of what God has created. This is, quite simply, heretical, but they’re sticking to it. Especially when it comes to our siblings who are transgender.

Today is Transgender Visibility Day in which we are reminded to notice the presence of those who are trans, two-spirit, and non-binary in our lives, in our community, and in our world. And as followers of the Almighty, we recognize that God hates not one thing or one person that God has created. That our beloved siblings are in fact loved deeply by God.

I know that there are transgender, two-spirit, and non-binary members within our diocese who feel alone and afraid right now. Who are worried about their well-being, wondering if they will receive the medical care they need and deserve, and if the rest of us in the Church will see them and stand alongside them as fellow pilgrims. They want to know how deep our love goes.

My hope is that we will indeed love them—and their families and cherished ones—just as they are loved by God. That we will proclaim the generosity that we ourselves have experienced from Jesus, who loves us simply as we are. That we will speak out against injustice done to them, realizing that when one of us is hurting, we all hurt. And more than all else, I hope that we will express and live into our deep commitment to becoming the Beloved Community which God dreamed up at the creation of the world.

I want to close with the collect for this day provided to us from the Associated Parishes for Liturgy and Mission. It is a prayer for all of us as we commit to seeing the full diversity within our humanity and in the body of Christ. “O God, you are made visible through the incarnation of Jesus Christ our Savior, and you call us to make you visible in the world: we thank you for creating each of us in your image. Strengthen us to bear witness to your infinite beauty as we change from glory into glory, steadfast in the knowledge that we are your beloved children and celebrating the beauty in one another; through your beloved child Jesus, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.”

We are made both stronger and more beautiful by the diverse array of God’s children in our Diocese. May God’s blessing and comfort rest on those who are transgender, two-spirit, and non-binary on this day.

Faithfully,

The Rt. Rev. Philip N. LaBelle
Bishop