Posts Tagged ‘Open and Affirming’
How LGBTQ-Affirming Christians Can Help Conservatives Walk On The Water
The dust is settling from the cultural upheaval of the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision that established marriage equality across the United States and, in my Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the almost simultaneous adoption of a description of marriage as “between two people,” which permits pastors to preside at the weddings of two people…
Read MoreThe Four Words This Kentucky Pastor Didn’t Expect To Hear
I wasn’t going to call him back. I got the message off our church’s answering machine: “I want to ask you some questions,” the caller said, and he left his name and number. But I wasn’t going to call him back. Frankly, I was afraid. I was afraid the caller would be belligerent, combative, wanting…
Read MoreHow An LGBT-Affirming Church Changed This Eagle Scout’s Life
“You don’t have to say anything… just know… if you are gay the guys in the troop are still your friends and are with you.” I did not say anything. It would be six more years before I came out as a gay man. But that night at scout camp, a dark weight was lifted…
Read MoreFinding Something Greater Than Ourselves
I wouldn’t say I grew up very religious. In fact, I don’t believe in God in the traditional sense. I do, however, believe in something greater than ourselves and so often, in our day-to-day world, this is something we tend to forget. When I moved to New York City from Seattle I was scared that…
Read MoreA Tribute To Rev. John McNeill
As the first Jesuit pope visited the United States, the first openly gay Jesuit priest went to heaven last week. As John McNeill passed through the pearly gates, Saint Peter asked, “Where’s your partner, Charlie?” “Oh,” John said, a little absent-mindedly, “He’ll be along. He just didn’t think he should leave the country while Pope Francis might…
Read MoreIn Their Own Words: LGBT & Ally Catholics Explain Why They Stay In The Church
Even with recent years’ positive steps in the church, remaining Catholic can be deeply challenging for LGBT people and their loved ones. Sacramental denials, harsh rhetoric, and church worker firings are simply the surface of the harm that some church officials, perhaps unintentionally, inflict. The question of “why to stay?” remains real and relevant. Thankfully, for Catholics, this question, and…
Read MoreBringing The Margins To The Center In Our Churches
I have a friend named Felipe who frequently attends worship celebrations at our church. Felipe was raised in the Valley—Brownsville, Texas—in a firmly Christian home. His father was Pastor of a Latino congregation with a vibrant outreach ministry to local youth whose poverty, a circumstantial product of their race and of living in a border…
Read MoreI Will Not Be Bullied By My Church
“F**got!”- the big boys yelled across the school yard. You try to avoid eye contact, mindful that you’re about to burst into tears. You get home and run up to your room to hide your bruises and drown your broken heart with loud music. You shut out your parents, who might not call you names,…
Read MoreMy Journey From An Ex-Gay Ministry To An Affirming Congregation
Growing up in rural southeastern Ohio, I always knew that I was gay, but I resented that part of myself. I wanted to be “normal,” to be like everyone else. In 1996, at the age of twenty, when I encountered a church that assured me that God could set me free from my same-sex attractions,…
Read MoreSouthern Baptist Convention Should Offer Third Way To Affirming Churches
It’s been almost a year since my church was dismissed from the Southern Baptist Convention. During the dismissal process, I had brought up concerns regarding the inconsistency of our denomination’s application of scripture. What has been hard for me to hear at this year’s SBC Convention is how they continue to state that Christians must stand firm on…
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