by Susan Russell, All Saints Church
It has been a tough week for the LGBTQ community and those who love and support us. Our hearts are breaking for our siblings in the United Methodist Church who watched their denomination take a giant step away from the inclusion of LGBTQ people in the church at their just completed General Conference 2019.
In our own wider Episcopal Church we read with dismay reports of the decision to exclude same-sex spouses from the upcoming 2020 Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops. And while we applauded the action of our Executive Council in unanimously approving a resolution finding the decision “inconsistent” with the positions of The Episcopal Church and with multiple statements of Anglican Communion entities that have urged the church to listen to the experiences LGBTQ persons, we recognize how far we have yet to travel until the “full and equal claim” the Episcopal Church promised its LGBTQ members in 1976 becomes not just a resolution but a reality.
And here at All Saints after decades of commitment to full inclusion we continue to grow in understanding about what that means and how we can live it out in our words, our actions and in making our facilities truly welcoming.
Nevertheless, we persist.
If you are a member of the LGBTQ community — welcome. Join us on Sunday at 7:30, 9:00, 11:15 a.m. or 1:00 p.m for worship. (1:00 p.m. in Spanish). And check out our LGBTQ at All Saints page on our website and visit our LGBTQ Resources page for more information.
If you are a member of the LGBTQ community or an ally looking for an opportunity to learn and grow in community — Lent is coming! Check out this awesome Lenten Small Group offering led by our own Thomas Diaz:
Let’s Believe Together
Offering a place of safety and sensitivity, this Lenten Series is a place for those who identify within the LGBTQ+ community to come, share and reflect on their spiritual journey in community. Those who identify as allies of the LGBTQ+ community are explicitly invited to participate as listeners to the struggle of what it means to be part of the Christian faith as member of the LGBTQ+ community. Educating each other, we will claim the goal of continuing to the work of making the church a safer place to worship and serve God with one another and taking our witness out into the community. Mondays, 7:00 ~ 8:30 p.m. Sr. High Room.
Register here.
And if you’re just trying to make it through the news cycle, consider this:
Reflecting on the collateral damage of the ongoing struggle for LGBTQ inclusion, equity and justice there is a pastoral dimension to the news cycle that must not be overlooked.
It is what comes up for folks
who have their internalized homophobia triggered
by the “old tapes” of messages they’re hearing again:
messages that they’re not good enough
— not worthy enough
— not deserving enough
— to be treated equally.
Only they’re not hearing
those tapes in their heads
— they’re hearing them
from faith leaders
making decisions about
who can serve in what capacity
in which church
or whose spouse can attend
which conference.
It is what happens
when children see families like theirs
being talked about in “the news”
with question marks
about whether they’re “real” families –
whether they deserve
the same protection the family next door has.
And it is the ongoing indignity
of having our deepest, holiest,
most precious loves and relationships
debated and dissected
in the public arena
as if it was OK
as if it wasn’t dehumanizing
and as if it’s not profoundly personal.
So if you find yourself hurting, angry,
anxious, scared or snarky
reach out and let someone you love
remind you that you’re loved
and that no matter what
we’re going to get through this.
And if you know someone
who may not reach out
find them where they are
and remind them that they’re loved
and that justice WILL roll down like waters
and the arc of history WILL bend toward equality
and in the end all will be well
and all will be well
and all manner of things shall indeed be well.
And if all things are not yet well
then it’s not the end. Yet.
La lucha continua/The struggle continues
