The Ethiopian eunuch appears only briefly in the Book of Acts, yet I have never been able to shake his story. Here is a man traveling a desert road with a scroll of Isaiah open in his hands, searching for something. He is wealthy and influential, yet he carries a body that placed him outside full participation in the religious life of his day. He is Ethiopian, a foreigner, and a eunuch. He lives at the intersection of identities that marked him as different, even as he reached toward God.

Then Philip climbs into the chariot. The story moves with surprising speed. There is no consultation with the apostles. No discussion about eligibility. No attempt to resolve every theological question before moving forward. Philip listens, shares the good news about Jesus, and stays present to what God is already doing.

Eventually the eunuch asks a question that still echoes today: “What is to prevent me from being baptized?” He knows the scriptures. He knows the boundaries. He knows what exclusion feels like. The question hangs there for a moment, carrying all the weight of a life spent navigating barriers and assumptions.

During Pride Month, I find myself returning to that question. Many 2SLGBTQIA+ people know what it is like to wonder whether there is a place for them in communities of faith. They know what it is like to encounter doors that seem closed before they ever reach them. Yet in this story, Philip does not become another obstacle. The Spirit has already moved. The church’s role is simply to catch up. Perhaps that is still one of the hardest lessons for the church to learn. God’s welcome often arrives before our permission.