In the weeks to come there will be many tributes to Eric Rofes as political activist, health activist, sex radical, and author and teacher.

We honor him as prophet and spiritual leader, as well.

In the pages of the Bible, prophets are revealed as eccentric characters who exercise powerful voices to bring forth liberation. Prophets are fearless and larger than life. They are people of conscience who often inspire revolutions. Often misunderstood and seen as "before their time," history vindicates them as true leaders during times of need and crisis, when leadership is sorely needed. Eric Rofes embodied all these characteristics.

He lived his spirituality through acts of justice and community organizing was one of his spiritual gifts.

The organizing principle of his work was the realities of gay life. He loved gay people as we really are, not as some externally imposed ideal or stereotype.

He loved men. And he loved women. He invited women as allies in the struggle against HIV/AIDS and he challenged men to be as knowledgeable about and committed to women's health issues as they were about men's health issues.

In the long tradition of prophets, he often did not say what was popular. He said what was true. And in an era when silence equals death, he broke the silence again and again. He spoke truth to power and he empowered the powerless to find their own voices.

Eric Rofes was an avowed feminist and an avowed leftist. He wanted to hear all voices and he worked to ensure that all voices were included: the young as well as the old, the entire gender spectrum, and people of every race.

Like prophets of old, he knew how to draw on tradition, to recover lost or hidden histories. And his analysis, the fruit of his research, was prophecy to our generation.

An astute observer of gay cultural life, Eric's observations shaped an era. He called people forth to speak their truths fearlessly, both in public and in private, from sanctuaries and sex clubs, from health conferences and in public education.

A gifted mentor, Eric is survived in a particular way by his beloved Crispin Hollings, and by a generation of activists, public health workers, educators, and clergy for whom his mentoring is part of his legacy. His life and relationships were sacred texts for others to examine and learn from.

Eric taught us the uselessness of shame and the value of our bodies -- our male and our female bodies, our HIV-positive and our HIV-negative bodies.

As a queer liberation ethicist, his ethical writing modeled the best of theological writing. He willingly drew from the personal when appropriate, while always making the broadest possible social application.

Eric was edgy, creative, prolific. A natural learner, he was always anticipating the next thing while documenting and interpreting the present.

He was a prophet for Metropolitan Community Churches, believing in us in a way that we haven't always believed in ourselves. He called us to be authentic to our calling, to be sex-positive, to be a place in which honest conversations take place, to use the power of community to liberate ourselves. He admired and chronicled MCC's participation in HIV/AIDS history.

Within MCC, we assign Eric's books "Reviving the Tribe" and "Dry Bones Breathe" to each new generation of seminarians. One can't do ministry in the LGBT community without having read Rofes works.

Disdainful of much organized religion, he always felt at home at MCC San Francisco, He led our men's retreats, piloted programs such as Men Talking Sex, consulted with MCC's denominational HIV/AIDS initiatives, and nurtured the dialogue between HIV-positive and HIV-negative persons, and between women and men. He will long be remembered for having filled our pulpit and preaching a sermon that rivaled that of any trained preacher.

On behalf of the international movement of Metropolitan Community Churches, we extend our love to Crispin Hollings, an MCC leader in his own right as a former moderator of the board of directors of Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco.

Following in the tradition of what Eric Rofes taught us, we invite you to do something tangible to honor his life and to memorialize his passing:

• Light a candle in his memory and let the flame burn until your thoughts become actions.
• In his memory and in honor of Eric's Jewish faith and heritage, pray the Kaddish in this or another version:

  Glorified and sanctified be God's great name throughout the world which He has created according to His will. May She establish Her reign in your lifetime and during your days, and within the life of the entire House of Israel, speedily and soon; and say, Amen. May His great name be blessed forever and to all eternity. Blessed and praised, glorified and exalted, extolled and honored, adored and lauded be the name of the Holy One, blessed be She, beyond all the blessings and hymns, praises and consolations that are ever spoken in the world; and say, Amen. May there be abundant peace from heaven, and life, for us and for all Israel; and say, Amen. She who creates peace in her celestial heights, may She create peace for us and for all Israel; and say, Amen.

• Exercise solidarity. Come out on behalf of yourself or others. Demonstrate an interest in the dynamics of race, class or gender. Make a donation to an activist cause. Put your body on the line. Take a risk. Engage in life-affirming sex as a prayer of remembrance. _____________________________

Thank you, Eric, for living your private life in public view, for sharing with us your splendid physical body, your brilliant mind, your vibrant spirit. Your relentless hope and your commitment to the work of liberation live on in all of your lovers and friends, and we are proud to be counted among them.