What’s it like to develop an entire identity around the sexual sin you desire? (Twitter user “Dave”) I’ve often thought about what it means to be human and to step into the person I’ve been created to be. However, we often don’t think about what
Spoiler: Your average affirming church might be resting on its laurels With every passing moment, it becomes increasingly less revolutionary for a progressive Christian congregation to label itself as some combination of open, affirming or welcoming. Denominational schisms notwithstanding, more and more Christians are saying
Welcome home! We are delighted you are here. In your worship bulletin is our Welcome Statement. Listen carefully, faithfully as I read it aloud. First Christian Church of Decatur (Disciples of Christ) is an open and affirming congregation. We welcome everyone into full participation in
Hundreds of bishops and priests proclaim ‘Love Wins!’ [Gay people] want the church to hold their life in such value that they are given the blessing of God and not denied it. We must face up to this wish. (Bishop Georg Bätzing, president German Bishops’
Have you ever asked why one group that’s been a victim of discrimination doesn’t automatically see how another group is suffering? Have you wondered why people in one group could actually participate in the oppression of another or at least ignore the desires for similar
… So that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the
It was a spring morning. Or wait, maybe it wasn’t the morning. Could it have been the afternoon? Whichever; it was a bright sunny day. The rays of the sun were piercing the beauty of the stained glass windows. I stood behind the altar and
Reading about the pending schism of the United Methodist Church, the denomination I grew up in, was a cold but oddly hopeful reminder to me of just how truly glacial the pace of change in the institutional church will be for LGBTQ+ people. Here we
As a child, I remember Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners in our home were always a big production. This was the time of year when mom and dad would pull the extra table leaves out of storage and magically make the dining room table two sizes
There are to be no second-class citizens in the United States! We established a long time ago that “separate is not equal,” and all American citizens are entitled to enjoy equality under the law. Any society that presumes to refer to itself as “decent” and