LGBTQ+ Art Festivals Supported by Churches
Photo by Tanushree Rao on Unsplash
Memorial Presbyterian Church is a PCA church in St. Louis, Missouri, that made headlines and raised eyebrows in the past few years for hosting "Revoice." Revoice was and is concerning to many because of its goal to be, "Supporting, encouraging, and empowering [to] gay, lesbian, same-sex-attracted, and other LGBT Christians so they can flourish while observing the historic, Christian doctrine of marriage and sexuality.” Though the latter half of that statement does make openly condoning and affirming same-sex attraction difficult for Memorial Presbyterian, many are concerned, especially within the PCA, that this is directly where they, and many churches like them, are heading. Memorial is now back in public view as news has come of an apparent LGBTQ+ art festival being hosted within one of the church's properties. Being reported by Boom.LGBT:
"The Q Collective announced, on Wednesday, the cast of the 2nd Transluminate Arts Festival taking place... at The Chapel, 6238 Alexander Dr.
Transluminate is a short-play festival and celebration of transgender, agender, non-binary, genderqueer, and genderfluid artists. The Thursday night performance is pay what you can."
The first question is, how directly involved is Memorial with this festival? It must be acknowledged that they both own and operate "The Chapel." From their own mission statement, they write, "To provide a beautiful setting free of charge for local artists to share their creative genius with the city of Saint Louis, and for members of Memorial Presbyterian Church to invest in the current generation of artists in our city."
Leaving no doubt of their involvement, they also write, "The Chapel is more than a venue. We are also volunteers from Memorial Presbyterian Church who believe that our Creator has given everyone a story, and that our stories need to be told, shared, and spread. Artists are gifted storytellers. Our support of their music, artwork, theatrical expression, or an eclectic combination thereof, brings joy to our Creator and beauty to our city."
Under fire from many, Memorial released a statement, available to read here; the gist is that Memorial owns three buildings, The Chapel being one, and though they do not endorse the art performed there, they do provide the building free of charge, and even some volunteers, as a sort of community outreach.
Allow us time to pause and reflect here on the message the church is sending. Memorial owns The Chapel, which is spelled out in numerous documents, and if they own the building, then they must also pay for the building. This includes paying for electricity, water, etc. As a church, their resources have been entrusted to them by God to use for the Kingdom of God. In effect, they are using God's money to pay for The Chapel, and, by extension of providing the building for free, are actually using God's money to pay for productions like the Transluminate Arts Festival. This is not just wasteful of God's resources, but an utter travesty and reproachful sin.
Let's again pause, and this time, think about Memorial's statement through The Chapel that their support of the arts both glorifies God and spreads beauty to the city. We can clearly define all LGBTQ+ behavior as sinful, according to Romans 1, so this can not and does not glorify God. But, let's spend more time on the latter half of their statement: Is this a beautiful expression of love that can spread more love to a city or even the world?
The old saying goes, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." The idea being, of course, that beauty is subjective, rather than objective. This is the sort of statement that fits perfectly within the broad, yet surprisingly narrow, confines of a postmodern culture. In this new culture, beauty is a broad construct wherein anything and everything is beautiful, yet beauty is also narrow in that if you disagree with the common census on what is or is not beautiful then you are, quite simply, wrong, shallow, bigoted, and conceited.
So, art festivals displaying the supposed beauty of LGBTQ+ relationships are now displayed proudly inside the walls of buildings owned by supposed churches. The goal, Memorial says, is to spread beauty. But, if LGBTQ+ relationships are sinful, can they be beautiful? In Philippians 4:8 (ESV), the Word of God says, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."
There is an obvious connection between all of these things, so that we can say: that which will glorify God the most is that which is also most beautiful, and that which is beautiful is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent and worthy of praise. So, for example, if something is not particularly commendable by God, it cannot be beautiful.
Though we could look at each of these terms, let's spend some time on truth. After all, we can conclude, that in order for something to be beautiful, it must also be true. Truth, by definition, must be objective. No matter how often people speak in terms of "my truth" and "your truth," the objectivity of truth does not go away. I can claim all I want that 2+2=5, but the objective truth is that 2+2=4. So, that which is true is beautiful. What is truth? Jesus declared, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." (John 14:6 ESV). In a certain sense, we can say Jesus is the archetype of truth and beauty. Jesus is truth. Therefore, Jesus is beauty.
But, some may respond, "Jesus is also love because God is love, so, therefore, love is beautiful and that means all expressions of love are beautiful expressions." This is the sort of thinking that could potentially lead to LGBTQ+ art festivals in churches, or buildings owned by churches. Is there any truth to that line of thinking?
First, we have to see that, according to Scripture, the ultimate expression of love is the marriage union, wherein God has commanded men and women to create children. Marriage unions between members of the same sex may be legalized, and even officiated by those calling themselves ministers of the Lord (they are not, by the way, because they disobey Scripture), but these marriages are marriages in name only and can never possibly hope to fulfill the function of marriage, wherein the man and woman join together and become one flesh. Here, LGBTQ+ relationships fail the first test of true expressions of intimate love.
Next, if Jesus is both truth and beauty, it is helpful to acknowledge the fact that Scripture speaks in terms of the marriage between a husband and wife reflecting the glorious, beautiful reality of Christ as the groom and the Church as His bride. Ephesians 5 says Christ is sanctifying the Church so that it will be presented to Him as beautiful, not having spot or wrinkle. The end of Ephesians 5 leads right into chapter 6, where children, the result of the marriage union, are discussed.
Scripture follows this train of thought because believing husbands and wives are to procreate, become believing fathers and mothers, and raise believing sons and daughters. This reflects the beauty of the Church which, as Christ's bride, proclaims the gospel and, in some sense, spiritually procreates children; born-again followers of Christ. Again, LGBTQ+ relationships fall woefully short of representing the beautiful picture that God intends to paint within Biblically-defined marriages.
As we look once more at Memorial Presbyterian, The Chapel, and this LGBTQ+ arts festival, our only conclusion is that this is not a beautiful display of love, but a twisted, ungodly display of lust that God despises. LGBTQ+ actions are not redeemable or beautiful. However, by the grace of God and through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, people living in LGBTQ+ relationships can be saved and churches supporting them can be restored. The key is to turn from the ugliness of sin and to the shimmering beauty of Jesus, who is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world; the Savior who loved us perfectly and thus was willing to fulfill all righteousness, die for us, and, in resurrection, is willing to take away our sin and cover us with His own beautiful righteousness. Let us think on Christ and look to Him in His fullness, and worship Him in His beautiful glory.
This is the beautiful truth of the gospel: Jesus saves sinners, and they become part of the Church, His bride. This is true love. Let us think and dwell on this beauty and reject all ugly counterfeits.
