What’s Gone On the Past Few Years at Seattle Pacific University

The last two years have been a disheartening scene at SPU. Seattle Pacific University’s Board of Trustees rejected the recommendations of a task force comprised of faculty, staff, administrators and trustees, who met weekly during the 2021-22 academic year to determine if there was a possible “third way” for the university to maintain its policy for employees to affirm committed Christian faith, and recognize that there are Christian faith traditions that affirm that one can be a committed Christian and be gay and married. The Board refused to consider this proposal, rejected the task force’s recommendations, and doubled down on the university’s alignment and affiliation with the Free Methodist church, which affirms the sanctity and legitimacy of marriage only between a man and a woman and that anything outside of that is sin. 

The actions and stance of SPU’s Board of Trustees have resulted in a cascade of student walk-outs, sit-ins outside the interim president’s office and other protests, resignations from board members who disagreed with the decision, employee resignations, a faculty vote of no-confidence in the Board of Trustees, alumni who want nothing to do with their alma mater, and lawsuits.

The Delight and Affirmation of Lavender Graduation

Given the dark chaos of these past two years at Seattle Pacific University, in early June, I was honored to accompany my friend, who was the Alumni Speaker at Seattle Pacific University’s Lavender Graduation, which honored 60 graduating seniors who identify as LGBTQ+. Lavender Graduation ceremonies are held on many college campuses, “an informal complement to an institution’s formal commencement ceremony rather than a replacement.”

As each graduate walked up to the podium, they introduced themselves with their name and some or all of the following: pronouns, major(s), degree(s), and gender identity(ies). Some of the gender terms were new to me, many more than “gay/straight” that were the norm when I was younger – decades (a half century!) ago. After each graduate introduced themselves and received a lavender cord, those of us in the audience joined in shouting the affirmation, “We see you. We hear you. We celebrate you!”

An Insult to God

On Pentecost Sunday, Michelle Lang-Raymond, Founder and Executive Director of Acts on Stage and Owner of The Scene in South Park in Seattle, preached at my church, and her remarks included:

“There’s a misguided notion in Christendom that we are supposed to be the same, look the same, act the same, because “same” means “unity”, that there is a unity birthed out of sameness that is somehow ideal when it’s NOT. The idea is that to look the same is that we are all together, that we are moving as one, that we are unified, but what I learned is that it made us more judgemental. It made us look at each other and decide “how close are you to the same or are you NOT”.

One of the things that church taught me was that different was not OK. Sameness is not the kind of unity that God honors. That is not Pentecost. To not appreciate each other’s uniqueness/differences is an offense, an insult to God’s creativity.”

Takeaways

Isn’t this affirmation what all of our hearts long to hear? “We See You. We Hear You. We Celebrate You!”

Isn’t our God’s endless creativity something to marvel at and ponder?