#affirming churches

[gnosisandtheosis]

I walked past St John's Anglican Cathedral yesterday and they had this wonderful flag outside the entrance.

[a-queer-seminarian]

More Light Presbyterians, a queer advocacy group for the PCUSA denomination, is holding a virtual Pride service on Sunday, June 9th! Come if you can — I and two other queer folks will be preaching short sermons, Flamy will be leading us in song, and I can guarantee it'll be a fabulous time.

Message me for the Zoom registration link!

[blessedarethebinarybreakers]

A few short years ago now, I was Baptized at an Episcopal church in a small town in NE Oklahoma, affirmed under my own chosen name. They were affirming, even if only just; only if because I wasn't loud about it. The priest affirmed me. It wasn't much but it was the weight of the world off my back, for me. He considered himself "conservative for California." Affirming, but not really hoisting the welcome flag, y'know?

I don't know what happened recently to light the fire there, but they're now hosting midweek affirmative gatherings for LGBTQ+ discussions and I'm just bursting with joy about it. It's bittersweet, because I cannot indulge in my home church's growth, but even seeing it from afar has made me glad. They're not without backlash, but it looks like they're holding strong to their more decisive affirmative stance for trans and queer folks/youth. It's so exciting to see. It gives me hope and faith, like I am meant to be the Christian I am, even if so many push back on that. Someone else is pushing back with me. Knowing that is just enough to keep me going.

Ahhh, thank you so much for sharing this! I feel you on the bittersweetness — the slow pace at which many churches improve can get frustrating, but it's a joyful day when others join the effort! <3

[mcdougallunitedinpride]

Edmonton region Affirming United Churches welcome you.

[a-queer-seminarian]

This is the queer, transformative power of Jesus: to take weapons of hate — the Roman cross, an instrument of state terrorism and torture; the cinder block, a craven threat — and imbue them with love, with life, a defiant declaration of solidarity with the oppressed.

[a-queer-seminarian]

Come to Virtual Queer Worship, Sunday evening on June 25!

More Light Presbyterians' Pride month worship service is this Sunday on Zoom at 7pm EST / 6pm CST!

The service theme is "Here to Stay," a defiant celebration of queer people of faith. We've always been here, we have vital gifts for our faith communities, and we aren't going anywhere.

Feel free to reblog this, and/or invite others off tumblr whom you think might be interested.

If you would like to come, message me and I'll give you the Zoom link. Hoping to see you there!

[blessedarethebinarybreakers]

Hi! It's been a while! I have another little update on my church and its affirming quest! I'm now a member both of our council (I'm the youngest by far and the only openly queer member afaik) and our RIC committee. At our past couple of meetings we officially confirmed a decision to turn one of our bathrooms into a gender neutral bathroom! I've been so nervous about it, but I'm super glad that the rest of council didn't feel the need to combat or vote about our committee decision. They just asked if the signage would match the rest of the building 😂 It's a multi stall bathroom too which makes more of a statement imo than just having a single stall bathroom be The GNC Bathroom (though we have a single stall family bathroom too)! It's the kind of thing that really makes me proud of the place that I worship!

Ahhh thank you for the update! That's very exciting news. I'm always delighted to hear about advancements in affirmation in churches <3

[blessedarethebinarybreakers]

Worship online with a church BY & FOR LGBTQ persons! April 11′s theme is “Good is the body”

Just wanted to get the word out in advance so folks can put it in their schedules: I’m preaching at my friend’s Queer Church this coming Sunday! The sermon + the whole service is going to center around celebrating how God made all of us Good, in the diversity of all our different bodies.

i’ll be focusing on disabled bodies & transgender bodies in particular:

John 20 shows us how Jesus rose from the grave with his physical body -- and not only that, but with a disabled physical body. The risen Christ, who is perfect and whole, bears impairing wounds! This shows us that embodiment is part of wholeness, and that disability is not incompatible with wholeness.

John 20 can also be highly resonant for transgender persons, who often make changes to our bodies. Some call those changes sinful, but Jesus’s own trans-resonant story shows us otherwise.

I’ll also be throwing a trans reading of Genesis 2, the creation of the first human and the surgery that splits them into two humans, into the mix B)

The service is at 3pm EST on April 11, 2021 -- here’s the link to Queer Church’s Facebook page, where the service will be livestreamed then.