Posts Tagged ‘Jesus’
Fasting Toward Reconciliation This Lenten Season
An oily black smudge on my forehead and my fingers looking like they’d cleaned a chimney were the indicators Ash Wednesday night that Lent had officially begun. The 40 days of Lent require fasting for the ones who claim to be followers—disciples—of Jesus. Fasting in westernized Christianity suggests that we give up something, that we…
Read MoreTo Christian Parents of Gay Children
“You want to shove those words back in and put the lid on. But you can’t. Your child is gay. This goes against everything you’ve been taught. It was not what you had in mind, and you instantly wonder where you went wrong.” When you become a parent, you know to expect the unexpected. But…
Read MoreMy Life As A Nuclear Weapon
I awoke to a bombshell last week. Pun intended, because I need some humor to dull the hurt, manage the anger, and resist a rekindled sense of insecurity. The bombshell is the statement attributed to Pope Francis concerning gender theory. Now widely circulating in the media is the statement made by this pope that gender…
Read MoreFundamentals Without Fundamentalism
Had they lived, my mother and father would have celebrated their 100th and 99th birthdays this past weekend. Gratefully I share some of the things they taught me by example that have shaped my spirituality. They considered themselves fundamentalists, but this in the day when fundamentalism did not have quite the edge it does today.…
Read MoreComing Out: An Ash Wednesday Reflection
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. (…) But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which…
Read MoreWhy We Refused To Cut A Gay Character From Our Christian Film
Hear ye, hear ye: God’s love is for everyone! This is the central message of our film Pass the Light. Who could dispute such a thing, right? Plenty of people, it turns out. Oh, sure, they will frame it inside “You don’t understand” and “You’re taking it the wrong way,” but from the powers that…
Read MorePennsylvania’s Episcopal Bishops Urge Passage Of Non-Discrimination Bill
“Jesus commanded us to love one another, and he listed no exceptions.” Bishops of the five Episcopal dioceses in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania today called on the state legislature to pass the Pennsylvania Non-Discrimination Act, which would prohibit discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in employment, housing, and other public accommodations. The bishops…
Read MoreLeading By Example
It took me a while to get here. Not to the point of LGBT acceptance but to the point of not worrying about what other folks may think of me as the pastor of Exodus Missionary Outreach Church in Hickory, North Carolina. I never had a problem affirming LGBT people. When I was a kid,…
Read MoreOpening Doors: The Closet of Depression
I have remained mostly silent in light of the recent deaths by suicide of transgender women and men. I would like to say that I have some sort of honorable reason for that silence, but the reality is that I was just too afraid to say much. You see, I’ve been running in and out of…
Read MoreAn Open Letter to Pastor Ray Chavez of New Hope Ministries
Pastor Chavez, I’m sure you have received your fair share of letters over the past week or so. Some of them “hate mail,” others, letters staunchly supporting your decision. This letter falls under neither category. Going to any kind of extreme would only alienate you from its simple message. Vanessa Collier was a human being,…
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