Queer and Christian Without Contradiction

Moving!

2009-10-06T13:52:00.001-07:00

I'm now blogging, on a more personal level, at http://headintotheheavens.wordpress.com/

Bridging the Gap Synchroblog...

2009-06-25T05:23:00.000-07:00

Today is the day of New Direction's "Bridging the Gap Synchroblog" and I thought I'd add my little voice to the discussion by recounting the story of how God used a rainbow flag to bring me back to him...

Near the beginning of my stay in Montreal - around October 2007 - I was at an interim stage in my spiritual journey. Having grown up Catholic, I had long ago grown tired of going through the motions at church and had thrown the whole going-to-Mass thing out the window the first chance I got (that being in 2005 when I left home for university). But I had been feeling for a while at that stage a certain hunger for something more, I just wasn't sure where to find it. I knew Jesus had something to do with it, but I wasn't entirely certain if it was for me or not. I had experimented with Methodist church services during my brief sejour in Cape Cod the previous summer but it seemed to me like more of the same - boring services and nothing particularly gripping. But I vaguely thought I'd keep trying and determined when I arrived in Montreal to find a good francophone church where if nothing else I could at least improve my French.

One afternoon I was passing by the Cathedral in the city centre and I had this strange, subtle urge to go inside. I don't know why I obeyed this urge, I had no interest in attending because I knew for a fact that they only held services in English (which I was determined to avoid - I was here for educational purposes dagnammit!). But anyway, I walked into the porch, had a look at the noticeboard - just as I thought, no French services. I was about to walk back out when I got a further urge in my gut (the kind I now recognise as the Holy Spirit's nudging) to go into the actual building itself, so I did. To my surprise, I noticed right at the back a massive rainbow flag! Beside it was a placard saying something to the effect of "As Christians, we are so very sorry for the spiritual abuse the Body of Christ has afflicted on LGBT people. We promise you are always welcome in this church."

As I read it, I was overwhelmed with a sense of love and acceptance and I started crying tears of joy. I knew at that moment how much God loved me and that I really did want to follow him. (For the record, I rarely cry in public!)

Some other interesting coincidences happened in the weeks following that incident, the main one being that one evening I went looking for Queer McGill, McGill University's LGBT group, hoping to get involved in some community activism. God had other, much cooler plans. I arrived at the building where I thought the meeting was to be held, only to discover that it was the wrong day and instead I had stumbled upon St Martha's in the Basement Church, a very queer-friendly ecumenical bunch that met like a house church every week. I felt at home immediately - for the first time, I LOVED going to church! - and God really used that to bring me closer to Him.

Anyway, I hope this helps others understand how vital it is to have LGBT-positive church communities. Here are some other highlights from the Synchroblog:

Justin Lee
Brian McLaren
Two World Collision
Box Turtle Bulletin
Grace Rules
Pomoprophet
And the official site itself!

2009-06-20T14:48:00.000-07:00

Take a few minutes to just bask in God's presence with this song. After all, if we abide in him and he in us, we will bear much fruit! :P

This'll blow your mind...

2009-06-20T01:57:00.000-07:00

By the way, you can now follow us on Twitter! https://twitter.com/queerprayer

Quote time!

2009-06-03T06:53:00.000-07:00

Found this little gem from John Crowder, who is fairly interesting (despite my nagging suspicion he subscribes to Young Earth Creationism). I also think in some ways it can speak to queer Christians as we make our way on our spiritual journey:

For too long, the Protestant church has felt license to defame the Body and Bride of Christ by calling her Catholic brothers and sisters the "whore" church of Revelation. Every time we say such a thing, we are pounding another nail into Jesus' hands. He died for Catholics and Protestants both. And Catholics can no longer afford to categorize Protestants as schismatics, heretics or lesser Christians...

The reason nearly every move of God tends to stagnate is because it judges the last move of God. We become what we judge. If we judge religious people and hypocrites, we eventually become religious hypocrites. Never criticize the old wineskin, just let it be. The wine itself will burst the old jug. And it will eventually burst yours. There is no quicker way into bondage than falling into spiritual pride and thinking we are the cutting edge of what God is doing. That we have somehow ascended beyond where the old order got stuck. First of all, we don't know all that the old order had to put up with and what spiritual ground they broke on our behalf.

It is important not to adopt a rebellious spirit, and to remember that our battle is not against flesh and blood. Yes, religion is a fould thing. But religious people are often just wounded Christians seeking identity and comfort in the wrong places. To criticize the old guard is often a sign that we are still operating out of rejection, and somehow needing their affirmation rather than the Lord's. Truly mature Christians, who have overcome insecurity, will see people beyond the veil of their religious bondage and empathize with the hurts that landed them there.

The Kingdom of God...

2009-05-25T05:53:00.000-07:00

The Kingdom of God from Adam Walker Cleaveland on Vimeo.

I do...

2009-04-14T08:51:00.000-07:00

I have a dissertation and another ridiculously large essay due in right after Easter, so I really shouldn't be on YouTube OR Blogger, but I just couldn't resist - this is FANTASTIC:

Peterson Toscano on 'queer'

2009-04-10T13:00:00.000-07:00

I ran across an interesting post by Peterson Toscano about the word 'queer' on the Gay Christian Network message boards, which I thought I'd repost here:

Some people hate the word QUEER. They find it offensive and derisive–a term no self-respecting gay or lesbian should use to describe themselves. . For many LGBT people the word carries a history of abuse, oppression and even violence.

Marvin Bloom also has severe problems with the word QUEER as you will see in his video critique.

My history with the word queer is different to that of some other gay men. Perhaps on the playgrounds in NY where I grew up, homophobes were a little more progressive. They never used the word QUEER to mock me, rather they preferred FAGGOT, HOMO, FAIRY and of mostly GAY. They never called me QUEER, and I have no memory of hearing the word used in a negative context.

I first remember coming across the word in the English literature and British films I loved as a child and young adult.

"Emily, it is nearly tea time and Rupert has not returned from his ride. It’s ever so queer."

All said in that lovely British movie accent of the 1940’s. Yummy. Queer to me meant out of the ordinary, odd, not the expected. It did not carry a negative connotation, rather it served as a descriptive term used for certain eccentrics or uncommon behavior.

For instance, Mary Martin (not the actress), an 80 plus year old woman in the town where I was raised lived alone with her cats, rode a bike around town, and volunteered for the volunteer ambulance corps up until the time she needed an ambulance herself. In our town she was seen as queer and was much loved by all. Although a single woman all her life, I never even considered if she was lesbian, just a little different, odd, queer in a wonderful quaint Mary Martin sort of way.

For me the word, queer, does not carry a weight of abuse and does not sound derogatory in my ear like it does for some. The word GAY once had that weight, especially when some oppressor spat the word out at me like a poison dart. Language is powerful, and I understand why some people find the word queer offensive and even irredeemable.

When I lived in the ex-gay world one of the most offensive and obnoxious practices had to do with ex-gay leaders asserting that they knew what made us gay and that they somehow possessed a profound understanding of our sexuality, our minds and our motivations. They insisted that we were blind to the truth, and it was their job to enlighten us. They provided a one-size-fits-all template that they demanded we follow without ever considering the individual differences between us and our own unique personal histories. They acted as the experts and bullied us (and our families) into following their theories about sexuality, identity and even language.

I find a similar type of bullying among some gay bloggers who demand that if someone uses the word queer that this reveals a self-loathing. They surmise that the use of the word queer demonstrates that the gay person still lives under the weight of anti-gay oppression. They put out a blanket statement without making any considerations for geography, generational differences, personal history or temperament. One size fits all armchair therapizing is a tool well used by ex-gay therapists. I find it repulsive when fellow gay bloggers and activists use it on me and others.

If we have gotten nothing else from the anti-LGBT oppression we survived, I do hope we have learned that it is essential to LISTEN deeply to each other’s stories. My gay experience is not your gay experience. Other voices–younger, older, various races and social backgrounds, gender expressions, etc deserve to be heard and respected.

And if someone says they find liberation or comfort or just playfulness in using a particular word to describe themselves and their experience, even if I cannot say the same, I have no business extracting that word out of their mouths as if it were some sort of linguistic rotten tooth. I can share my discomfort, perhaps even propose a possible theory, but I need to keep my pronouncements to myself.

For my part, I often say that I am queer, in fact a quirky queer Quaker. I mean, I am peace-loving Christian Quaker who likes to worship in silence and stillness , that is odd and out of the mainstream for our world. I am a vegan without a car or TV and work as a playwright/actor/activist /minister hybrid. None of this has anything to do with my sexuality–the fact that I am also gay. Add it all up and I think one can say, That’s ever so queer.

How can a loving God send people to hell?

2009-04-08T12:15:00.000-07:00

This is an absolutely fantastic sermon by Tim Keller about the inherent usefulness of the doctrine of hell. Really good stuff!

Any Smashing Pumpkins fans?

2009-04-08T05:33:00.000-07:00

So recently on a plane ride I was reliving my teenage grunge years listening to Smashing Pumpkins, who I love. When the album was over (it was Adore, for the record) I decided to catch up on my podcasts and happened to pick one by Missiongathering Christian Church (a very cool emergent-type church in San Diego, who btw are LGBT-friendly) and the pastor, funnily enough, quoted an interview with Billy Corgan during his sermon. Nice coincidence! (Billy Corgan, for those of you with no musical knowledge, is the lead singer of Smashing Pumpkins...)
Anyway, the interview was about Corgan's finding Jesus etc and he gave some interesting answers:

Risen: How would you describe God?

BC: Well, I don’t think they’re kidding around when they talk about infinite and omnipotent and…

Risen: Creator?

BC: Sure, I think that’s what they mean when they say we’re created in God’s image. I don’t think they mean a nose and a penis. I think they mean like creator, an active participant.

Risen: Do you pray?

BC: All the time.

Risen: What would be a typical prayer for you?

BC: There’s this beautiful prayer that someone taught me recently. It’s, um –

“I am as God created me, I cannot change my dwelling place. I’m now releasing and surrendering to God any imperfection that I’ve experienced or will experience. Jesus Christ is my light, my life, my love, my peace, my health, my joy, my vitality, my purity, my unity, my perfection and my freedom.” That’s a very powerful prayer to me, because I’m constantly unhappy about any imperfections.

Via.

Why "queer"? Part one...

2009-03-06T02:31:00.000-08:00

...because if it weren't "queer" it would be LGBTQQAAPI or some other monstrosity...

Reconciliation

2009-03-06T02:18:00.000-08:00

I've just finished Gene Robinson's autobiography (which is more like a collection of thoughts on faith and life than his life story), In the Eye of the Storm. Highly recommended! The best part was the second last chapter which is explores the book of Jonah (you know, the guy in the whale's belly) from a liberation theology perspective and relates it to how LGBT people need to
a) forgive their oppressors
("Jonah, in holding on to his righteous anger, is held back from doing the work that would have brought his people - and his oppressors - true liberation and reconciliation"),
b) forgive God for letting all this happen in the first place
("The Hebrew scriptures...are full of people ranting and raving at God, expressing their anger and disappointment that oppression, pain and suffering have already befallen them, and then calling on God to do something to remedy the situation")
and c) recognise than God loves the oppressor too and wants their salvation.
("Jesus is the perfect model of this. At the very moment of his crucifixion he prays for his tormentors, never losing the desire for his oppressors' salvation").

This chapter alone is pretty much worth the price of the whole book (well, nearly) and I encourage you to go out and buy it...

Gay Christian Network

2009-03-06T02:07:00.000-08:00

Gay Christian Network is, IMHO, one of the best LGBT Christian resources out there, go sign up to the website now!

Why praise God?

2009-03-06T01:25:00.000-08:00

A great response from John Piper (via Planting Affirming Churches, who nevertheless cautions that we should beware some of his other teachings*) on why God commanding us to worship him doesn't mean God is needy or a megalomaniac:

*...such as his teachings on salvation. He's also a complementarian when it comes to gender roles and co-edited a book called Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood *vomit*. So pinches of salt all round, guys.

Jesus: just a great human teacher?

2009-03-06T00:44:00.001-08:00

At the end of the film The DaVinci Code (a crappy movie, but one which I nevertheless enjoyed due to the presence of the beautiful Audrey Tautou), Tom Hanks' character, having presumably proved Jesus wasn't anything more than just a pretty cool guy, says something along the lines of "Why does it matter anyway? Why can't Jesus just be a great human teacher and not the Son of God?"

To respond to this, here's a little quote from C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

Even Bono gets it (I promise this is the last time I'll quote Bono):

"Christ says, No. I’m not saying I’m a teacher, don’t call me teacher. I’m not saying I’m a prophet. I’m saying: “I’m the Messiah.” I’m saying: “I am God incarnate.”

And people say: No, no, please, just be a prophet. A prophet we can take. You’re a bit eccentric. We’ve had John the Baptist eating locusts and wild honey, we can handle that. But don’t mention the “M” word! Because, you know, we’re gonna have to crucify you.

And he goes: No, no, I know you’re expecting me to come back with an army and set you free from these creeps, but actually I am the Messiah.

At this point, everyone starts staring at their shoes, and says: Oh, my God, he gonna keep saying this.

So what you’re left with is either Christ was who He said He was—the Messiah—or a complete nutcase."

But is there another option? Maybe the Gospels are just factually inaccurate or even made up? (They probably try and claim this point at some point in The Da Vinci Code, I can't remember).
Well let's listen to Lee Strobel, a guy who started out atheist and then did a journalistic investigation into the truth claims of Christianity after his wife's and came out the other side a Christian:

The book is The Case for Christ, by the way, which is pretty good - though not as good as Tim Keller's The Reason for God.
Did you know there's more accurate historical evidence for Jesus' existence than for that of Julius Caesar?

What is the Kingdom of God?

2009-02-28T00:13:00.000-08:00

I'm reading a fantastic book about the 'Kingdom of God' called This Beautiful Mess by Rick McKinley, and I've just come across a real gem of a quote that I had to share:

"One of the biggest challenges to following Jesus into His kingdom is not a lack of direction but a lack of desire. Most of us don't really want to do it.

When the Imago Dei community numbered only about twenty and we were still meeting in a borrowed basement, it becamse pretty apparent that this was our problem. We didn't "want to", and not because we didn't understand what God was calling us to either. What part of loving your enemies or embracing a child is confusing? We knew what to do, but we couldn't bring ourselves to act.

We realized that if we wanted to live out the kingdom, we would need to get our hearts before God. Only His Spirit can create spiritual desire. As a pastor, I couldn't make anyone in our little group, let alone myself, want the kingdom. We needed God to change us.

One night in the borrowed church, I got up and announced that we would start meeting each Wednesday night to repent and pray for Portland (not the coolest thing to invite your friends to). I printed out lists of every need I could think of in the city. The next Wednesday evening, we sat in a circle and prayed about those things. We had just enough desire to show up, pray, and get honest - and that's what we told God.

Things got honest real fast. "I hate my neighbour," one person prayed. "I don't think I love you, God," said another. We told God that we wanted to care, but didn't - not really. We told him we were afraid to follow Him completely because we didn't want to look like idiots; we didn't want to risk losing our comforts. Of course, we were just confessing realities most of us knew, but we'd been just good enough church folk not to say them aloud...

Gradually something happened. I felt it. We all did. Something in us was turning. For the first time we were experiencing an authentic "want to". No gimmicks or games or seven steps. No flashy programs. But with God's help, we were beginning to embark on a new way of being and of seeing the world."

Then he goes on to describe how they started a program of handing out socks and cigarettes to homeless people in the neighbourhood, and other stuff that I haven't got to yet, but am excited to read on...

What I like about this excerpt is it's barefaced honesty. I've only recently realised that I should be praying to God about my apathy towards him, that if I'm honest, sometimes I don't really care that much, and that I need him to come and set me on fire. And it's worked.

FUNNIEST. BIBLE. STORY. EVER

2009-02-22T23:31:00.000-08:00

To be read in a 'Cartman-from-South-Park' voice, particularly the last verse (and bear in mind that they've just fed the 5,000):

When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. "Be careful," Jesus said to them. "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."

They discussed this among themselves and said, "It is because we didn't bring any bread."

Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, "You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? Do you still not understand? Don't you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? How is it you don't understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees." Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Matt. 16:5-12

This makes me laugh every time.

Of course, it actually has a serious message, summed up pretty well by Shane Claibourne here:

The righteous "yeast of the Pharisees" is still infectious today. It attacks "liberal" and "conservative" Christians alike. Conservatives stand up and thank God they are not like the homosexuals, the Muslims, the liberals. Liberals stand up and thank God they are not like the war-makers, the yuppies, the conservatives. The causes are different, but the self-righteousness is the same.

Jesus did not come simply to make bad people good. Jesus came to bring dead people to life.

Great message. Still a funny story though...

The Vision

2009-02-22T15:03:00.000-08:00

From 24-7 prayer, written by Pete Greig:

So this guy comes up to me and says "what's the vision? What's the big idea?" I open my mouth and words come out like this… The vision?
The vision is JESUS – obsessively, dangerously, undeniably Jesus.
The vision is an army of young people.
You see bones? I see an army.
And they are FREE from materialism.

They laugh at 9-5 little prisons.
They could eat caviar on Monday and crusts on Tuesday.
They wouldn't even notice.
They know the meaning of the Matrix, the way the west was won.
They are mobile like the wind, they belong to the nations.
They need no passport.
People write their addresses in pencil and wonder at their strange existence.
They are free yet they are slaves of the hurting and dirty and dying.
What is the vision ?
The vision is holiness that hurts the eyes.
It makes children laugh and adults angry.
It gave up the game of minimum integrity long ago to reach for the stars.
It scorns the good and strains for the best. It is dangerously pure.

Light flickers from every secret motive, every private conversation. It loves people away from their suicide leaps, their Satan games. This is an army that will lay down its life for the cause.
A million times a day its soldiers choose to loose that they might one day win the great 'Well done' of faithful sons and daughters.
Such heroes are as radical on Monday morning as Sunday night. They don't need fame from names. Instead they grin quietly upwards and hear the crowds chanting again and again: "COME ON!"

And this is the sound of the underground
The whisper of history in the making
Foundations shaking
Revolutionaries dreaming once again
Mystery is scheming in whispers

Conspiracy is breathing…This is the sound of the underground
And the army is discipl(in)ed.
Young people who beat their bodies into submission.
Every soldier would take a bullet for his comrade at arms. The tattoo on their back boasts "for me to live is Christ and to die is gain".
Sacrifice fuels the fire of victory in their upward eyes. Winners. Martyrs. Who can stop them ? Can hormones hold them back?Can failure succeed? Can fear scare them or death kill them ?

And the generation prays
like a dying man

with groans beyond talking,

with warrior cries,

sulphuric tears and

with great barrow loads of laughter!

Waiting. Watching: 24 – 7 – 365.

Whatever it takes they will give: Breaking the rules. Shaking mediocrity from its cosy little hide. Laying down their rights and their precious little wrongs, laughing at labels, fasting essentials. The advertisers cannot mould them. Hollywood cannot hold them. Peer-pressure is powerless to shake their resolve at late night parties before the cockerel cries.
They are incredibly cool, dangerously attractive
inside.

On the outside? They hardly care. They wear clothes like costumes to communicate and celebrate but never to hide. Would they surrender their image or their popularity? They would lay down their very lives - swap seats with the man on death row - guilty as hell. A throne for an electric chair.

With blood and sweat and many tears, with sleepless nights and fruitless days,
they pray as if it all depends on God and live as if it all depends on them.

Their DNA chooses JESUS. (He breathes out, they breathe in.)Their subconscious sings. They had a blood transfusion with Jesus. Their words make demons scream in shopping centres.Don't you hear them coming? Herald the weirdos! Summon the losers and the freaks. Here come the frightened and forgotten with fire in their eyes. They walk tall and trees applaud, skyscrapers bow, mountains are dwarfed by these children of another dimension. Their prayers summon the hounds of heaven and invoke the ancient dream of Eden.

And this vision will be. It will come to pass; it will come easily; it will come soon. How do I know? Because this is the longing of creation itself, the groaning of the Spirit, the very dream of God. My tomorrow is his today. My distant hope is his 3D.
And my feeble, whispered, faithless prayer invokes a thunderous, resounding, bone-shaking great 'Amen!' from countless angels, from hero's of the faith, from Christ himself. And he is the original dreamer, the ultimate winner.
Guaranteed.

Not sure if you believe in God?

2009-02-17T15:32:00.000-08:00

I found this wonderful blog post called"Finding God in 5 Steps" by Jennifer F. who runs a blog called Conversion Diary*. It's about her journey from atheism to Christianity. I encourage you to go read the original, but I'll summarize her points here.

1. Seek humility first: Pride and the belief that you're right is one of the biggest blocks to belief in God. Throw all your efforts into becoming more humble so that you can be more open to truth.

2. Go on a cynicism fast: "Commit to a period of time during which you'll fast from all sources of cynicism...You might be surprised at how much this fast will transform your heart."

3. Read the great Christian authors: Christianity is inherently logical and plenty of religious apologists throughout the ages have done a great job of explaining why. Jennifer recommends C.S. Lewis and Thomas Aquinas; I personally think everyone should read 'The Reason for God' by Tim Keller...

4. Do the experiment: Having opened your heart and mind to the possibility of God and done your homework on the intellectual basis of Christianity, it's time to actually live as though you believe it. Just try it for a while and see what happens.

5. Pray frequently: "I know, you feel like you're talking to yourself. You don't see the point of it. I was there for a long, long time. But there is no substitution for humbly, regularly turning toward God with an open mind and an open heart."

If there is no God, this will at least have made you understand Christianity more and perhaps changed a little in the process. But if there is a God, figuring out how to have a personal relationship with him is probably the most important thing anyone could ever do. It's pretty much a win-win situation...

*Note: I generally dislike the term 'conversion' because it's been too religified and I feel it detracts from Christ's call which was for disciples, not converts. More on that in a future post...

Prayer

2009-02-17T13:37:00.000-08:00

I've only recently become interested in the power of prayer. I used to consider it a little silly - an entirely subjective element of Christianity that was based almost entirely on conjecture and wishful thinking. Now, I'm increasingly fascinated by this great mystery...let me explain.

During my time in Montreal I had a flatmate who was zealously atheist. I'd even go so far as to call her an atheist evangelist! She was a rhetorical genius - you just couldn't win an argument with this woman. It was very frustrating because I'd be like "you're so wrong!" but not really be able to explain why. So this really gave me a kick up the ass to do my homework and find out the rational basis for my Christian faith (and believe me, Christianity has a profoundly rational core). However, once I found this objective, logical and solid basis, I was reluctant to more from it in fear of leaving myself open to intellectual attack. Mysterious stuff such as prayer, the Holy Spirit etc. risked compromising the credibility of my worldview.

However, now that I am no longer living in that pressured environment and have been freed from having to defend my faith at every turn, I am at liberty to explore this part of my faith. I have been attending a charismatic-leaning church where people are really into prayer, Holy Spirit, prophecy etc. and I've been learning lots of interesting stuff.

Prayer is how God works. Not that the Spirit is incapable of working without human interaction, but God prefers people to take a little initiative. When we talk to God, God listens and answers (although it may not be the answer your were necessarily expecting). Any Christian project must be absolutely steeped in prayer to make sure God's leading you where you need to god and that you're listening.

All great Christian revivals have been the result of prayer, prayer and more prayer. A guy at my church, Roberto, told me about the 24-7 prayer movement. Take a look:

Here's the website.

I think this is the coolest idea I have heard of in a long time and I really think we need more intercessionary prayer on behalf of the LGBT community. After all, if we don't pray for our own community, who will? Might I make a few suggestions?

- Prayer for the LGBT community, particularly in Belfast; that the Spirit will move us to revival (which I think is starting anyway- more on that later...)
- That those who have been hurt by the church will not confuse its poison with the real Jesus, and that their hurts will heal.
- That God will work in the families torn apart by homophobia
- That LGBT adolescents who are experiencing bullying will know deep down that God loves them no matter what
- That religious leaders will recognise the problem of homophobia in the church and be moved against it.
- Prayer for all the countries with cruel and injust sodomy laws, that the Holy Spirit will move them towards equality.
- That queer people who have been caught up in the often shallow, materialistic and hedonistic mainstream gay scene might find a way out into a more meaningful life.
- That people in long-term same-sex relationships might find lasting stability despite our community's lack of role models; particularly that those couples with an interest in spirituality might put Christ at the centre of their relationships and see them flourish.
- Prayer for all living with HIV/AIDS, that God might comfort them.
- Prayer for all denominations working through issues of homosexuality; that God might heal any rifts and guide them towards justice and light.

Try it: it can't hurt, can it?

So what exactly is God doing in our community anyway?

2009-02-17T13:13:00.000-08:00

In 1968, Troy Perry founded Metropolitan Community Church after having been defrocked by his Pentecostal denomination for being gay. Since then, the queer Christian movement has been growing steadily, but mostly underground.

However, in recent years, despite having seen some of the most vitriolic anti-gay rhetoric from the religious right, the number of affirming churches has positively blossomed. Read this 2004 article from gaychurch.org and you'll see what I mean. There is a revival taking place.

When I was living in Montreal (which is a very gay-friendly city with many affirming churches), Gwenda, the minister at the house church I was attending, made a very interesting comment that has stuck with me till this day. It is no secret that people my age (the "MTV generation") are a little lost in space, with few people taking an interest in the concept of God or Christianity (there's a generalisation for ya!). However, Gwenda remarked to me one day that in recent years she'd seen something of a revival among young people, and it has been mainly coming from queer youth. She said she thought it might be something to do with the fact that LGBT people, being a social minority, are more likely to look beyond the surface and question things. This made a lot of sense to me. "Right, a bit like how queer people are more likely to get involved in political activism?" I replied*. "Exactly," said Gwenda, "or, indeed, the arts, if you think about it..."

I normally can't stand generalisations and stereotypes, but I think there's a lot of truth to this. It seems to me that queer people are more likely to question the status quo. Whereas many people drift through life just going through the motions without looking deeper, when you're LGBT, 'the motions' are somewhat interrupted for you so you have less opportunity to just go along with the dominant culture and more space to look beyond the surface. You see the world in a different light. And, it seems, these different angles are leading some of us todig deep and question if there's more to life than meets the eye. Sometimes, this questioning leads us right back to God.

*Yet another sweeping statement, but I often find this to be true.

Why?

2009-02-10T16:52:00.000-08:00

BECAUSE it breaks my heart that LGBT people feel like they aren't a valid part of God's creation.

BECAUSE it breaks my heart that 1 in 5 gay people in Ireland have attempted suicide, and 1 in 3 have self-harmed.

BECAUSE it breaks my heart that Christianity is one of the biggest impediments to our full social integration.

BECAUSE it breaks my heart how LGBT people feel they have no place in the church.

BECAUSE it breaks my heart that our very real issues are tossed about like a game of doctrinal football, that in the Christian community one's position on the 'gay question' is the unofficial litmus test of orthodoxy vs. heresy.

BECAUSE it breaks my heart that more Christian leaders would take our side but doing so would destroy their credibility.

BECAUSE it breaks my heart that the LGBT community sees Jesus as irrelevant to their lives.

BECAUSE it breaks my heart that the church is the one place where we are almost guaranteed to be rejected.

BECAUSE it breaks my heart that people still think Sodom and Gomorrah was about a city full of homosexuals.

BECAUSE it breaks my heart that Belfast's LGBT community might associate Christianity with the bible-bashers who protest and try to ban the pride march every year.

BECAUSE it broke my heart when I read a gay Christian's testimony that he sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night crying from loneliness because he feels God commands celibacy from him.

BECAUSE it breaks my heart that we find it so hard to find a spiritual home where we feel comfortable being authentic.

BECAUSE Jesus came for the outcasts.

BECAUSE we need the Kingdom of God too.

BECAUSE God is doing something really cool in the LGBT community right now and I wouldn't miss it for the world.