Another world possible and on her way

“Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. Maybe many of us won’t be here to greet her, but on a quiet day, if I listen very carefully, I can hear her breathing.” Arundhati Roy. 

The 2025 National Transgender, Intersex, Non-binary Theology Conference at Luther King House - what a conference! Abundant, grace-filled generosity on how to be love, how to respond with love to those who struggle to love everyone. It was not a quiet couple of days (tho well-being had been thoughtfully considered so quiet could be found by those wanting it) but I definitely could hear the breath of another, better, world on the way.

With the conference title and theme being “I have a dream”, the focus was very much on trans joy. However given the state of the world there was of course also lamenting and vulnerability in sharing pain. The cost, and sacrifice, in trying to love when met with hate, was palpable. Dreams might start small when actually what is wanted and needed is access to health care, safety and feeling able to express identity. 

Speaker after speaker showed what it might mean to be open and curious as to what and who God is calling us to be.

For me it felt like a mini greenbelt, a place of hope  - possibilities that we can co-create a kin-dom where we all get to be fully ourselves as we delight in recognising God in each other.

Being trans is not how I define myself and yet I rile against the way society is quick to box us off, such an emphasis on binaries, when I can glimpse how much brighter the world is/would be without that.

What would it mean if I more frequently allowed myself to be open to God, open to change? If say on a bus journey, or in a conversation in the supermarket, or watching a TV programme, I was curious about what might be revealed about myself, or another human or creature, or about God? With that wonder of a child that many of us lose.

I have come away feeling like my heart, my mind, my whole self has been opened that bit more. It’s how I feel after Greenbelt, or NCBI events, or a good church service. What if we could offer that to everyone? That’s my dream!