Dear friends,
The snow falls gently outside my window as I write. Winter came earlier than usual this year, and along with it, fond memories of my favourite time of year, the Christmas season.
As the Christmas season approaches, I look back on the year and reflect on all the blessings that John and I have received. We are so grateful for all the wonderful family, friends and colleagues in our lives. This year has been particularly filled with wonder and awe for us as we witnessed Rainbow Faith and Freedom establish firm foundations for a solid future of making lasting change. My vision of a world in which LGBTI+ people feel free, welcome and accepted in their families and congregations is beginning to take shape before our very eyes.
Late in 2018 I attended the Parliament of the World’s Religions, which came to my city, Toronto, Canada, for the first time. It was an amazing interfaith experience for everyone. We hosted seminars and workshops in the Parliament’s first-ever Rainbow Lounge. We shared the vision of Rainbow Faith and Freedom with clergy, leaders and congregants from many faiths. We heard from many people what their visions were for a world free of religious-based homophobia. It was gratifying to find that so many from across the entire faith spectrum resonated with the idea that it was time for religions to change the way they relate to LGBTI folks. That it was time for religions to become universally welcoming places for all, not just for some. We had a particularly merry Christmas last year, filled with the inspiration and hope of a new vision coming to the world.
Over the past year, we have seen folks of diverse talents join with Rainbow Faith and Freedom working to make this vision a reality. I have met with and spoken to governments, faith leaders and activists from around the world. I went to Ottawa, Washington, and even to the United Nations in Geneva to share our vision of how to make the world a better place. We have now put the necessary legal and administrative structures in place to manifest this vision into our reality. The momentum is building, and now, thanks to our partnership with Egale in Canada, we are able to collect donations to build and operate the programs that will spread our message and bring about real change. But that’s not all we did; click here to see the list of RFF’s achievements for 2019.
2019 has been a wonderful year of great successes and the work everyone has done this past year lays the groundwork for expanding into future. My deepest, heartfelt thanks and gratitude to my Board of Directors, team leads, volunteers, partners and financial supporters for making all that we have achieved this year possible.
Now, as Christmas approaches, I turn back to the meaning of Christmas. Christmas has many meanings for many people. I am reminded of one of my favourite poems: it’s “Amazing Peace - A Christmas Poem”, by Maya Angelou. It’s a beautiful, multi-faith poem calling out for peace on Earth. Here is my favourite passage:
We clap hands and welcome the Peace of Christmas.
We beckon this good season to wait a while with us.
We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim, say come.
Peace.
Come and fill us and our world with your majesty.
We, the Jew and the Jainist, the Catholic and the Confucian,
Implore you, to stay a while with us.
So we may learn by your shimmering light
How to look beyond complexion and see community.
It is Christmas time, a halting of hate time.
On this platform of peace, we can create a language
To translate ourselves to ourselves and to each other.
Maya Angelou’s vision of Christmas as a time of coming together and looking past our differences, of halting hate and creating peace is a universal message for all humanity, regardless of what religion we might practice, or if one practises a religion at all. Although Christmas is regarded as a Christian religious event, it carries a universal message of love, compassion, accepting one another, giving and helping, all of which are universal attributes inherent in all people.
So, this Christmas, I wish to thank all of you for your support, guidance and advice in 2019. Thank you for joining with us in all of the many ways you have helped us lay the foundation to make the Rainbow Faith and Freedom vision become a reality. John and I wish you all the joys of a world in which we look past our differences and come together as one across all of our many faiths to spread a message of love, compassion and acceptance to the entire world. We look forward to continuing to work together in 2020 and beyond. We wish those who celebrate it, and anyone who wishes to join in the celebration, a very Merry Christmas. We pray for health, happiness and prosperity for all of you and yours in the year to come.
Blessings,
Rev. Dr. Brent Hawkes, C.M.
Founder & Executive Director, Rainbow Faith and Freedom