My internship
involves crafting an online presence for a church, where the members of the
church can find resources on LGBTQ+ issues. This involves a variety of things.
Firstly, i am working on the Open Table Project, which involves me finding
resources on different concepts within the community, crafting a calendar for
different LGBTQ+ holidays, finding different resources related to more specific
topics, and gathering stories from LGBTQ+ christains so that members of the
church can learn from the experiences of others. The second aspect of the
internship is focused on reaching out to other people, and getting a feel for
who they are and what they need.
I took a
leadership studies class last Fall, and I plan on getting a distinction in the
subject. Understanding different theories and means of practicing leadership
has really helped me throughout this process, but more specifically, the class I took in the Fall reminds me of what I am doing, research wise, in my
internship. My Leadership Studies class focused on the life and work of Martin
Luther King Jr. MLK dedicated his life to inclusivity, and he wanted this type
of inclusivity through love. In almost every speech he did, he spoke about the
importance of loving one another.
During one of King’s last speeches,
he described how there were three different words for love in the Greek
language, one of them being the word “agape”. This is a deep, unending love
that does not judge or hurt others. This type of love is not withheld from
people because of who they are, and it is the type of love that we, as humans,
should always show each other.
This is something
I thought of while I was doing work for my internship. Inclusivity is so
important, being an ally is also beyond important; however, you cannot have
these two ideas without demonstrating the idea of agape. You need to be willing
to show people and communities the type of love that King often described in
his speech.
For my internship, this love is
easily shown. Such simple things as watching the videos and reading the
articles provided to educate yourself, making sure you use someone’s pronouns
correctly, and taking the time to understand a person’s gender identity or
sexual orientation are just a few ways that people can show the type of love that King talked
about. It is extremely interesting to me that
something King spoke so highly of can still be applied to something so different.
The resources
that Claire and I are compiling are going to be put on a facebook page for easy
access for church members. I highly doubt when King gave his speeches, and
spoke of agape in general, he thought that the concept could be applied to a
facebook group for a methodist church in alabama, but his speeches are perfect
backing for why the church does what it does. Highlands UMC prides itself on
showing this deep, unending love to everyone that walks through its doors.