A Space for Grace with Flamy Grant

On a Monday night in April, a bunch of American Baptist and United Church of Christ clergy gathered in a cozy, velvet-covered lounge in the basement of a fancy hotel in Cleveland, Ohio. There were hors d’oeuvres and cocktails and nonalcoholic drinks galore, next to a merch table laden in rainbows and featuring taglines like “Bible Belt Baby,” “SPRKL,” “Esther & Ruth & Rahab & Flamy,” and “my spirit rises; I am not ashamed.”

We had gathered for a concert by the renowned Christian drag queen Flamy Grant (if you ever listened to contemporary Christian music in the 80s or 90s, you’ll understand the tongue-in-cheek name!) The night before the American Baptist Home Mission Society’s biennial Space for Grace conference began, the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists and the Open & Affirming Coalition of the United Church of Christ denomination hosted this beautiful event. I and several colleagues wearing rainbow-lettered “this pastor loves you” shirts, as well as Bob Sittig, a hearty advocate for AWAB, bopped our heads, sang along, clapped and cheered, and shed a few tears as Flamy sang. In a sequined rainbow dress and cowboy boots, Flamy owned the stage, just her and her guitar. She sang several songs from her forthcoming album GLORYBOUND, and revisited some of her well-known hits: “What did you drag me into?”, “Holy ground,” “Esther, Ruth and Rahab,” and “I am not ashamed.”

Between songs, Flamy shared stories of her life and music, tributes to friends and their struggles and triumphs with regards to identity, hilarious ways that folks disapproving of drag queens have been humbled, and and snippets of her theology. She proclaimed expansive welcome for all with some hair tosses and sashays. She pondered how many stories of faithful people had been left out of the Bible because it had been penned by men. She called into question the stories that we don’t often hear preached in church (well, maybe in this one you do!), the stories of women like Rahab, Jezebel, Bathsheba, Deborah and Jael. She sang about how the brightest hope in these treacherous times comes when communities are standing side by side for what they believe in—and how diversity is what God dreamed about at Creation, and how Christian nationalism is a severe heresy.

For a few hours that evening, Flamy held space for all of us to be our full, radiant selves, reminding us of God’s love for each of us and in particular, for those pushed to the margins of society. She made us laugh with her stories of internet trolls who tried to take her down, just to find that so many people were inspired by Flamy that they were drowned out by Flamy’s fans. She brought us to tears as we mourned the pain in the world and the loss of so much humanity because of the dangerous policies of this federal administration. She took us to church. She made a space for grace.

I am proud to be a pastor of an AWAB church. There are too many places in this country where people suffer under the impression that you can’t be Christian and be (or support people who are) lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual, asexual, and more. Though AWAB is growing each month as more and more churches are added regularly to our celebratory community, there are too many people far from AWAB churches. For places and people like these, I am so grateful that artists like Flamy Grant exist. She boldly goes into Pride parades and folk festivals and community events and drag queen story hours in parts of the USA where many LGBQTIA+ people are trying to stay under the radar. She shows them that there is a community, a faith community, somewhere, that accepts them and loves them as they are. She knows it’s true because she has been welcomed by faith communities all over, and can witness to the love and support and work being done in solidarity with LGBTQIA+ people.

So, friends, please look up Flamy Grant on your favorite music platform or on YouTube. Listen to her stories, take the words of her songs to heart. Then look up AWAB. Read the list of churches that are part of this growing network. Extend love in your thoughts and prayers to places where there are not yet AWAB congregations. Sign up for the AWAB newsletter, and if you have capacity, consider becoming a monthly donor to AWAB. With partners like Flamy and partners like me and you and SFBC, I believe we can extend spaces of grace and belonging all over this land.

I love you and I love being your pastor.

Rev. Anita