Pansexual Visibility Day

Three colorful figures embracing in heart shape

May 24 is the annual Pansexual Visibility Day! It is a day to uplift, educate and celebrate. “What is pansexuality?,” you might ask. Pansexuality comes from the Greek “pan,” meaning “all.” Pansexuality is a sexual orientation in which an individual is attracted to another person regardless of their sex or gender. This does not mean…

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Harvey Milk Day

You gotta give i am hope - harvey milk.

In 2009, the State of California officially designated May 22 as “Harvey Milk Day” in order to commemorate one of the most outspoken LGBT government officials to this day. Harvey Milk was an activist, an organizer and the first openly gay man elected to office in the United States as a member of the San…

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Ascension Day: A Testimony of Jesus’ Trust

A poster for ascension day.

We don’t often think about Ascension Day as one of the important Christian holidays; however, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Just as  Christmas and Easter remind us of the incarnation of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of Emmanuel, Ascension Day solidifies the fact that God is with us. Through the ascension of Christ,…

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Agender Pride Day

Agender pride flag with black, gray, white, green

May 19th marks Agender Pride Day! To be agender means to not identify as any particular gender.  Agender is also called genderblank , genderfree, genderless, gendervoid, non-gendered, ungendered, or null gender. The agender identity falls under the nonbinary umbrella and (sometimes) the transgender umbrella. Agender people can have any preference for pronouns (he/she/they), but some prefer to avoid…

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International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia

Rainbow silhouettes of a standing group with cross

Today is International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia! It was on this day in 1990 that the World Health Organization made the decision to declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder. The day was highlighted to draw attention to the discrimination and violence experienced by people with diverse sexual and gender orientations. Though the world…

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Portal to a New World:
An Earth Day Reflection

An image of an eclipse with a quote on it.

There are so many lessons to learn in this time of COVID-19, and specifically throughout Eastertide, the 50-day period between Easter Sunday and Pentecost Sunday. On a positive note, we have witnessed the uniting of humanity. We have seen people come together, quickly to combat colossal issues. On a challenging note, we cringe at the…

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Yom HaShoah 2020

A circle of photos with the words'remember'in hebrew.

A name is a life, a story, a whole world – relationships, thoughts, feelings and dreams, dreams, dreams. On this Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom HaShoah, the air we breathe is filled with lives and worlds and dreams as Jewish communities all over the world read the names of those who perished in the Holocaust. Six…

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The Loneliness of the Cross: Meditations on the Seven Last Words of Christ in a Time of Pandemic [Audio]

The loneliness of the cross meditations for the seven last words of christ in a time of pandemic.

Music credit: “Aspirato,” “Meekness” and “Daedalus” by Kai Engel, used under Creative Commons Attribution License. Transcript: For LGBT Christians who have been separated from their families and worship communities by fear and prejudice, holidays can always be a time of isolation. But now, in this strange Lenten season overshadowed by a pandemic, it seems that…

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Confessions of a Local Pastor

The lead deacon at my church called me several days into our mandated social distancing (I cannot recall which day he spoke to me because all the days blend into one another.) and asked if he could post encouraging words daily on our Facebook page.  He commented that he had not seen many pastors or…

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