Recently I stumbled upon the song The Promise is The Same. I was immediately in love with it. Not just because it’s beautiful, but also because one of my all time favorite songwriters, Lori McKenna, helped to write it.
So I did what I do. I put it on repeat and hoped my husband wouldn’t notice. (My habit of repeating songs ad nauseam is a frequent topic in our marriage). Then I decided I wanted to know more about this song and poked around Google. I discovered that Cory Asbury is a Worship Pastor and former member of Bethel Music who has been moving more towards the Country scene. I was excited because I love worship music and I love country music. I was excited because some of Bethel Music’s songs on the album Peace are my all time favorites and have helped me to heal my relationship to my faith; a faith that I moved away from after coming out my Senior year of High School in a religious community.
With excitement, I continued searching for the story of this song. I didn’t find much, but I did find this YouTube interview with Cory Asbury. At the 01:02:13 mark he starts reflecting on changing the world with art. I got even more stoked! Art! Healing! Changing the World! This is what I’ve been digging deep on and starting to express in my work as a coach/facilitator/guide.
Then I kept listening, and I heard him go on to comment on how the power of art and positive reinforcement can change hearts and minds, and how yelling at people to “Stop being gay!” is not the way to approach them. He clarifies, “And that’s not to say, hey, keep living in sin,” and shares more about how art can circumnavigate walls in the heart. (I totally agree on that point - art can circumnavigate walls in the heart. I have experienced this firsthand).
“But Damn.” I thought. “He thinks I’m living in sin as a Queer person.” And then a slew of other thoughts followed.
“Maybe I don’t like this song as much as I thought I did.”
“Ughhhh why can’t he just be one of those Christians who gets it.”
“Ughhhh why did Lori McKenna write a song with him, maybe she’s a homophobe?”
Etc etc etc. Different thoughts flew through my brain trying to convince me to write this guy off. Tons of different thoughts that tried to make me think his views regarding Christianity and homosexuality mean I can’t like his music or resonate with some of his message.
But no. That’s not my style. For better of worse, that’s not my style.
My style is to dance around in my rainbow sweatband this pride weekend, singing along to Billie Eilish’s Lunch while feeling my dignity and belonging as a queer person. A queer person who has her own personal relationship with Spirit. One in which I remember and feel that Jesus does love me and that Spirit moves with me in all of my queerness. One who can listen to the deeper message of Spirit through the worship music that I was raised on.
One who listened to The Blessing and felt such love, acceptance, and peace that I reconnected to my faith in a new and deeper way; in a way that felt authentic for the first time in my adult life. Ever since that traumatic time in high school, hearing from some in my beloved community that I was going to hell because I fell in love with the girl who sat next to me in my sewing class.
It’s from this place of wholeness that I can feel who I really am. I can rest knowing I do not have to convince anyone of what God has shown me in my heart. I know my love, passion, pleasure, and desires are beautiful and feed me and my relationship to Spirit. I am one who can love those whose opinions I disagree with. I am someone whose love is vast, deep and complex and whose heart carries a willingness to be cracked open by the beauty and the sorrows of life. I'm grateful for my ability to hold nuance and allow for diverse opinions, while continuing to be rooted in my wholeness and truth.
In that interview with Cory Asbury, he says many things that I love and resonate deeply with, including, “We’re not going to change the world with our opinions. We’re going to change it with our art.”
Yes. I couldn’t agree more. My authentic expression, relationships, and life are my greatest works of art. I’ve been talking authentically about who I am since I was 18, when I gave myself the greatest gift on my path to authenticity and belonging. That I could own and claim my queerness and be seen for who I really am. And now to return to my faith as a 40 year old with all of myself is a blessing. I saw something this pride weekend that said "To be Queer is to liberate your heart." Yes. I feel that.
One of the lines of the song The Promise is The Same I was drawn to is, “If I got asked to preach on Sunday, What would my sermon be?” Love. It’s love. And the immeasurable power of expressing and loving the whole of my sacred and holy being. And yours. Just like Jesus taught me.