Hey friends, I don’t have a new podcast for you this week and I did not want to let this week go by without stating clearly and unequivocally that the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, its clergy, staff, and lay leaders, stand in full support, love, and affirmation of LGBTQ plus persons, all of whom are made beautifully and powerfully in God’s image.
This week I am re-running the first in a series of podcasts I recorded on Pride back in 2019. I invite you this month to support your local Pride festivities, and then to do your part, in Jesus name, to make sure that LGBTQ plus persons are more fully loved, heard, empowered, supported, and cared for in your community.
Each of us has a part to play in making our world truly inclusive, and this work is central to our understanding of the gospel of God’s love in Jesus Christ. The Church of the Redeemer believes in the full inclusion of LGBTQ plus persons on all levels of Christian ministry and in all areas of the church community.
We are committed to living into this belief and to ensuring that That Redeemer is an affirming, encouraging, and inspiring worship community, where people of all genders and sexual orientations are empowered to know Jesus and grow in love. The above is not meant as a political statement, though it may have political implications for some.
Neither is it meant as a partisan statement. Though at any given time, one political party may be more in line with our beliefs about LGBTQ plus persons than another. As Presiding Bishop Michael Curry has said, our commitment to be an inclusive church is not based on a social theory or capitulation to the ways of the culture, but on our belief that the outstretched arms of Jesus on the cross are a sign of the very love of God reaching out to us all.
Our support of LGBTQ plus persons is rooted in the love of Jesus Christ. Our commitment to LGBTQ plus inclusion in the life of the church is born of a deep conviction that the Holy Spirit is uniting us all in relationships of holy connection and communion. As we stand at the beginning of Pride Month, And as we continue to do the work of becoming beloved community, we have a responsibility as followers of Jesus Christ to acknowledge that the Church has not earned a reputation of being a body that recognizes the blessedness, the belonging, and the God given beauty of our LGBTQ plus siblings.
For this, the Church must repent. We have a responsibility to recognize that even today, too few churches are willing to open their arms to LGBTQ plus persons and to do so without the ulterior motive of quote unquote helping them to change or quote unquote be healed. So let me say this as clearly as possible.
We believe that the God that created you made you as you are. On purpose. You are not a mistake. Your sexuality is not a mistake, a sin or something to be cured, fixed or healed. You are a blessing. Your journey to self understanding is essential to the healing of this world. You matter tremendously to God and to the people around you.
Your expression of love Is even now teaching this world a deeper understanding of what love really is. And when you are part of the church community, the church is more of who God means it to be. When you are empowered, the Spirit is revealed. When you lead, we see Jesus.
If you are reading this, or listening to me, I guess, at this point, or you If you’re listening to this and you’re not sure where you personally stand on issues of LGBTQ plus inclusion in the life of the church, or if your current beliefs are not fully in line with what has been written and spoken above, you may wonder if there’s a place for you at Redeemer.
If that’s the case, I want to remind you of the breadth of belief and experience of the people in this community. Redeemer is meant to be a place of wrestling, of seeking to understand. We seek unity, not uniformity. If you seek to live in love and charity with your neighbor, and if you seek to understand and experience Jesus more fully through Christian community, there is a place for you at Redeemer.
This is true for you if you are gay, it’s true for you if you are straight, it’s true for you if you are male, female, trans, or gender non conforming. We are all one in Christ Jesus. And it is in the name of Jesus that you are welcome here. Because it is Jesus who unites us, who leads us into the work of love and mercy for which we were all made.
