Posts Tagged ‘Faith and Identity’
A Kiss Of Solidarity
A picture is worth a thousand words, they say. Recently, I learned just how true that is. I’ve written thousands of words over the past several years about how the Church has failed our gay and lesbian family members, friends, and neighbors, and why I, as a minister of the Gospel, seek to welcome and…
Read MoreBeing Gay In A Bible Belt Congregation
I’ve been in church since I can remember. I was baptized as a baby in the first Pentecostal church that was ever built in America—Keelville Pentecostal Church—in a tiny community in southeastern Kansas. When I was a kid in the early to mid-eighties, our congregation ran somewhere between 60 and 80 people, two-thirds of which…
Read MoreSilent No More: Denouncing “Christian” Voices Of Hate
When I read that President Museveni had signed the hateful anti-LGBTQ law in Uganda, the first words that came to mind were from the opening song in “Les Misérables.” It’s called “Work Song.” Prisoners in a work camp are expressing their hope and their despair. One sings, “I’ve done no wrong, sweet Jesus hear my…
Read MoreBeyond Either/Or: How I Am Bisexual Everywhere & All The Time
“…in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27) I was recently with a friend who also identifies as bisexual, and we began talking about the widely-held presumption that bisexuals “become” straight or gay depending on the gender of our partner. For instance, since I am faithful in…
Read MoreShamed: How Spiritual Abuse Contributed To My Son’s Death
Trigger Warning: Discussion of suicide A kind, gentle, knowledgeable, and very socially conscious 16 year old boy arrived to join his circle of friends for a youth group prior to going on a mission trip. These kids and this place had been this boy’s sanctuary from years of school bullying. This group held a safe…
Read MoreCelebrating Our Common Unities Through Love
Personally, I am tired of religious irony. My own snarky, judgmental attitude about a Christian megachurch, no matter how much in check I was able to keep it at the moment, almost kept me from making a beautiful discovery about the depth and capacity of the human heart. When I walked into Overlake Christian Church,…
Read MoreSharing Our Nativity Stories
We each have our own “nativity story.” Mine is that it was a difficult birth, a prolonged labor, my mother turned blue, my father told the doctor she needed oxygen, I was born feet first, my legs were crooked and doctors wanted to put braces on them, but my mother resisted, choosing another therapy: massaging…
Read MoreHoly Days In Barren Places
Each Thanksgiving and Christmas during college, I returned to the home of my childhood, the stable-turned-summer-cottage where my parents had begun their family together. My first chore on arriving would be to empty the Tupperware of refrigerated fuzz and discard the rolled oats webbed with meal moth larvae. Edible food was scarce in that house,…
Read MoreHonoring LGBT Veterans
I’m always a little surprised by how many veterans there are within predominantly LGBT congregations. This past Sunday was no different at Dallas’ Cathedral of Hope, when veterans were invited to stand and be recognized for their service, and I would guess around 30 or more rose at each worship. A nice touch was that the…
Read MoreWondrous Confusion: How My Gender Shimmers In The Fluidity Of Being Bi
“I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). It’s easy for me to sympathize with people who express confusion when I share with them that I am bisexual. My sexual orientation confused me for decades and continues to do so occasionally, even now. Like many, I thought the question I was answering for myself was,…
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