I remember going to the first Pride Festival in Reading, PA, 20 years ago. It was in the park right near my church, and was full of fun events, caring organizations, and – of course – lots of Drag. I was already fairly well known in the community, so I got to have lots of great conversations with people who were there just to be in a safe atmosphere. And sure, there were a few haters, but they figured out pretty quickly that their words would be wasted, so they left. As I walked the grounds, I thought that this would be a great place for my church to have a table, so by the second year, we did, and we have attended ever since. I believe we were the first religious organization to represent, but others have followed, and it feels great to know that there are other believers who are willing to express a very basic idea – God loves all of us, no matter who we love or what our gender is.
At some point just before this year’s Pride, I posted that I was excited to celebrate at Pride, and some random person responded – on Facebook – “a church that “celebrates” Pride? Hmmmm.” And yes, he used quotes around celebrates. I responded that, in fact, many congregations celebrate and accept LGBTQ+ people as beautiful creations of God. To do otherwise would be to insult the Creator. That was the end of that conversation, but it reminded me that there are a lot of “good” people who, for some reason, hate anyone who isn’t heterosexual. It ranges from leaving their church if it becomes a welcoming place (been there!) to campaigning against equal rights for all. As I write this, there are politicians at all levels trying to take marriage rights away from anyone who isn’t straight. The battle was won, but the war against equality rages on.
Jesus never said anything positive or negative about non-heterosexual people, but He did say that eunuchs would enter the Kingdom of heaven. Leviticus condemned a man lying down with a man as if he was a woman, but not a woman with a woman. The Apostle Paul condemned same-sex relationships but wrote that God allowed them to become this way because they were idol-worshippers, which I always thought was kind of odd. In all things, when there is a discrepancy or disagreement between Jesus and Paul and the Hebrew Scriptures, I go with Jesus. I know many good people of faith – and I was just kidding with the quotes around good earlier – who disagree with me, and they are welcome to their opinion. For those who don’t disagree with me, I urge you to support the LGBTQ people and organizations in your life and in your faith community. I encourage you to set up a table and tell people at your local Pride events that God loves them. We all need to hear that message, especially when we are being told the opposite. God made us and God loves us. Not a difficult concept, is it?
Prayer – Holy God, thank You for making who we are, and for leading us towards doing good and loving one another. Amen.
Today’s art is “Rainbow Over Brooklyn” (2022) by Autumn Hart.