Pastor's Corner
October 2005

Judy Shepard is a woman on a mission. A wife and mother who didn’t consider herself much of a public speaker, she has devoted her life to publicly speaking out against hate speech and hateful actions of every sort against any group of people. She does this because hate and fear led to such a traumatic loss in her own life: her college student son Matthew was beaten to death in Wyoming 7 years ago simply because he was gay. It happened only four months after an African American man, James Boyd, was dragged to his death chained behind a vehicle in Texas, simply because he was black. A brief film about these two hate crimes was shown before Judy spoke at Jesse Auditorium last week. During her talk, she shared the “Victim Impact Statement” that she had presented to the court before the sentencing of her son’s murderers and then she spoke, simply and directly, about the campaign to get a Federal Hate Crimes bill passed and to overcome the hate and prejudice so prevalent in our world.

She is not a polished speaker, but her genuine passion for her subject is powerfully persuasive. She encourages gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people to come out and stay out, knowing that silence and secretiveness offer no ‘protection’ to hate but only feed ignorance. She says that when people tell her they don’t know any gays, she tells them, “Oh yes you do . . . you just don’t know it.” She proposed a “blue” day when all GLBT people and their allies, families and friends would paint themselves blue for one day. The numbers would be huge. She encourages everyone to “be who you are and love who you love” and to treat everyone with respect. She claims it’s especially important for straight allies to speak up about the issue. She encourages us to see the connections to other forms of discrimination and hate based on race, ethnicity, class, ability, etc., and to resist ALL the “isms” that divide human beings and stoke the fires of hatred and fear.

Judy Shepard warms us not to think that the hate comes from “those people” as if they’re separate from us: those people are us, our families, our friends, our neighbors and co-workers. And the only antidote is openness, honesty and respect for all people, even in disagreement. Her message was absolutely consistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I don’t doubt that he – and Matthew – are proud of her courageous, gentle and hope-filled one-woman campaign to open minds and hearts and celebrate the amazing diversity of God’s good creation.

Shalom,

Maureen

Maureen Dickmann, M. Div

Yale Divinity School, 1984

Pastor of Rockbrige Christian Church since 1987

Maureen has served on boards of directors and as president for local Habitat for Humanity, Food Bank, and Missouri School of Religion.

She has also served on the board of Comprehensive Human Services (Women's Shelter and Youth Homes) and the Anti-Racism Pro-Reconciliation Team of Mid-America.

Maureen won the Norenberg Prize for excellence in Preaching and Worship Leadership. She has also been published in "Preaching: Word and Witness."