No Longer Silent

I have a couple photographs and a transcript, both from an organized protest at the Catholic Basilica in Phoenix. A legislative training event sponsored by the Catholic diocese, and founded on the principles of the Manhattan Declaration, was held this weekend at the Basilica. In the picture are UCC colleagues Vernon Meyer and John Herman.



Here is a transcript of my words at the rally:

I serve as the Conference Minister of the Southwest Conference of the United Church of Christ. We are an Open and Affirming community of faith. meaning we are Open to all who claim their God-given rights and who seek to live a life that celebrates what God has given them; and that we affirm the right of all God’s children to live a life of their choosing - free from oppression, hatred, bigotry, and condemnation.

The Manhattan Declaration is a clear attempt to demonize women who maintain their reproductive freedom and to condemn men and women who are born gay. I stand here an ecumenical partner with its authors and proponents, but in radical opposition to its purpose, meaning, and intent.

I want to be clear about this from the start: women who make reproductive choices are not evil, and being gay does not mean being broken.

What is broken is a Church that fails to live out it’s most foundational teaching: that you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength - and your neighbor as yourself.

What is broken is a Church that insists on rendering obscure Scriptural passages with narrow, arcane, barbaric, and - given what we now know - indefensible meaning.

What is broken is a Church that invites its members to hate, to despise, to ridicule, and to shame members of its own family.

I call upon the leaders of the church, lay and clergy alike, to abandon what has been a centuries old condemnation of our gay brothers and sisters and of women who choose reproductive freedom. I invite all Christians to examine their hearts and to test their conscience. If the inclination of your heart is to love at all costs, in spite of those who have taught you to hate, then simply love.

I believe that openness to and affirmation of our gay brothers and sisters honor our deep commitments to the teachings of Scripture and fulfill Christ’s mandate to love. Which is to say, when we love and when we accept and when we affirm those whom God has called, created, and invited to be gay - we do so not in spite of what God intends, but in full compliance with God’s teachings and intentions.

If we continue to teach that there is something inherently wrong with those whom God has created gay, then the blood of every gay teen-ager who commits suicide is on our hands; the shattered bones and bodies of those beaten and brutalized because of their sexual orientation remain our responsibility: there is no escaping or denying our complicity with these evils.

I wish to speak to every woman who has had to struggle with difficult decisions concerning reproductive choice. At our best, we, the church, share the pain, the ambiguity, and the uncertainty that can come in moments where difficult choices must be made. At our best, we, the church, honor your right to make informed choices. At our best, we, the church, remember that Jesus taught us to judge not lest we be judged. May you never have to live again with the burden of guilt and shame imposed on you by the Church at it’s worst. For our history of condemnation - I beg your forgiveness.

I wish as well to speak to every young man and woman who come to know the joy of being created gay. God made you whole, not broken. There is nothing inherently evil about who you are or the life you choose because of who you are. You are not a failure. It is we, the Church, who have failed you. For our history of condemnation - I beg your forgiveness.

No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey - believe in yourself. Love yourself. Love the God who created you, who loves you just as you are, who gives you a mind and a will and empowers you to use both, and who calls you to a life of meaning, purpose, dignity, and pride. And God help those who have burdened your heart with anything but.

Catching Up

Its been too long since I last posted, and some very important things have happened.

We have established our Lay Academy with an inaugural weekend that by all accounts was a tremendous success.

We have celebrated the full affiliation of two congregations new to the United Church of Christ: Black Mountain United Church of Christ and First Christian United Church of Christ. They have been declared churches in good standing of the Southwest Conference!

I attended the final sermon of my mentor and spiritual father, the Rev. Dr. Sam Mann (if you attended my Installation, you will remember him as the preacher for the day).

Enjoy the pictures I accrued from a very full, very exciting, very inspiring last two weeks:
The sign at the Las Cruces church: Disciples and UCC - Partners indeed;

Lee Albertson presents the certificate of Affiliation the Pastor Linda Mervin:

The sun sets as Black Mountain shares a meal in their newly dedicated courtyard:

The Children at Black Mountian sing a song they wrote about being 'affiliates;'

SWC Moderator Brendan Mahoney hands the certificate of Affiliation to Pastor Jayne Hubbard at Black Mountain UCC;

My mentor Sam and his wife Bev, draped in a star quilt given to him by the daugther of Leonard Peltier;

Rev. Dr. Sam Mann preaches his final sermon;

Alice Hunt delivering the inaugural lecture at the SWC Lay Academy;

the first class of the SWC lay academy;

Mimi and Jane, students at the SWC Lay Academy;