'You are my child, my beloved' - A reflection on Body, Mind, Spirit by OTN Patron Cherry Vann
The Right Revd Cherry Vann was among the first women to be ordained as a priest in the Church of England in 1994. When she became Bishop of Monmouth in south Wales on 2nd February 2020, media attention focussed on the fact that she was the first lesbian bishop in the Church in Wales, and that she has a civil partner. As Archdeacon of Rochdale for 11 years before that, she celebrated with Open Table communities in Liverpool and Manchester, and supported a community consultation which led to forming the Open Table community in Derby.
WATCH:
- Bishop Cherry's message to the Open Table Network (3 mins)
- Bishop Cherry Vann Q&A with OTN Co-Chair Sarah Hobbs [54 mins]
If you would like to see the whole of Bishop Cherry’s reflection and join in spiritual communion with her, watch the Open Table Manchester February 2021 service here [40 mins], with BSL & subtitles.
FEBRUARY is LGBT+ History Month, an annual celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans & non-binary history. This year’s theme is Body, Mind, Spirit - We’ve asked our Patrons and Trustees to share their thoughts on this theme. Here is an extract from a sermon for Open Table Manchester by our Patron Cherry Vann:
I shall never forget the time when I was on retreat and my retreat guide gave me the story of Jesus’s baptism to reflect on.
The idea was to imagine myself in the story, to see myself there at the River Jordan among the crowd and to think about why I had come, what I was feeling and expecting, what I was hoping for. And then, my retreat guide said, ‘Imagine those words being said to you: ‘Cherry, you are my daughter, my beloved, with you I am well pleased.’
For a start it felt all wrong. It felt like I was putting myself in the place of Jesus, and that couldn’t be right. But then, as I prayed and reflected, I began to understand that I too am a child of God. I’m made in his image. He loves me so much that he went to the cross for me. I’m not Jesus, not perfect, not the Messiah. But I am a beloved child of God. Why wouldn’t God say, ‘you are my daughter, my beloved’? Why wouldn’t he take delight in me and say, ‘I love you. I’m pleased with you.’? Just as any parent might say to their child.
It was then that I began to realise how badly I thought of myself and how at sometimes I would even hate myself. It was hard to think of myself as loved, beautiful, gifted, cherished. That is probably the case for most people at some point in their lives. But I think it’s particularly the case for LGBTQIA+ people. Because even in the 21st century when LGBTQIA+ people are more accepted, are not imprisoned for being gay, can marry the partners we love, the messages that we still get from some people is that we’re not acceptable; we’re flawed, queer, different, we don’t fit. Sadly, even some Christians believe that we’re evil, offensive to God, on our way to Hell. The church as an institution is still not a safe place for LGBTQIA+ people, even if some individual churches are welcoming and inclusive of us.
And yet, God says to you and to me, whoever we are, ‘you are my child, my beloved. With you I am well pleased’, because we are his children and he loves each one of us more than we can begin to imagine. Just sit with those words today, perhaps even every day, and sense God saying them to you: ‘you are my child,’ and know yourself loved. It’s transformative. It changes everything. Gradually, step by step, over days and weeks and years, we learn to see ourselves differently and we come to know in the depths of our hearts that whatever people think about us, whatever people call us, however much we don’t fit in or aren’t welcomed, God nevertheless loves us and says to us, ‘you are my child, my beloved, in you I am well pleased.’