(OPINION) Ask any Christian, and they’re likely to tell you their earliest experiences of religion are ones of music. The memories of voices swelling with song or a grandmother softly humming a favorite tune can hold a sacred place in one’s heart, deeper than even speech or scripture can reach. Jeannette Lindholm knows the feeling.
The professor and hymn writer based in Salem, Massachusetts was raised in an evangelical Christian church, surrounded by music. “Hymns have a powerful influence on theology and how people understand and experience the divine,” she says. Except, her early years of faith were marred by a strong dissonance.
To her hometown congregation, and even to her family, Lindholm’s sexuality was a sin in need of healing, an aberration to be tolerated at best. But Lindholm didn’t want to be tolerated. She wanted to be loved. “I profoundly believe in the healing power of love and grace,” she said.
“I didn’t want to abandon my faith.” Instead, she dedicated her life to studying music, feminism and theology. She absorbed other religious perspectives. She fell in love with her now-wife, Chris, and found a faith community that believed what she had all along: That divine love has no qualifications, and to be different is a blessing.
Two of Lindholm’s works are featured in “Songs for the Holy Other,” a collection of LGBTQ-affirming hymns compiled by the Hymn Society, a 100-year-old institution for religious music. First published in 2019, the collection has proven to be a unique resource for churches that fully celebrate queer believers.
“The title, Songs for the Holy Other, is a self-conscious claiming of otherness as holy and beloved of God,” the project’s mission statement reads. LGBTQ Christians, faith leaders, and allies know how important this perception is — to see otherness celebrated in this powerful form of song, and to be considered necessary in a community instead of just tolerated. READ MORE
