This past Wednesday was my twenty-sixth wedding anniversary. Three years ago, we were celebrating our twenty-third and our in-laws’ fiftieth in Hawaii when I woke up to something decidedly less celebratory. Ever since the Pulse shooting in Orlando in 2016, our marriage has joined hands with a gruesome tragedy. Each year, as we’re getting dressed up for a nice dinner, …
One Spirit, One Body
I am a Baptist, but I went to a Methodist seminary, so I have many professors and colleagues, people I count as friends, in the thick of things this week. Church in the Cliff is an affirming congregation; we definitely have feelings about the relationship between the Church and queer folx. So, while I’m not in the thick of things, …
Welcome to the Queer Church!
This past Saturday, we were blessed with the opportunity to ordain Lindsey Mosher Trozzo into the ministry of the Good News. One of our congregation, Courtney Cox Wakefield, was asked to read our usual welcome and say a few words about what it means to her and what Lindsey’s ordination meant to her. It is a beautiful summary of what …
This is My Body
(We are so grateful for our intern, Lindsey Mosher Trozzo, who gave us the gift of this homily on Sunday.) This is my body. This is my body that grounds me, that bring me down to earth when I get lost in my head, my hypotheticals, my plans, my criticisms, my should and should-nots. This is my body that reminds …
What is Love?
We are told in 1 John 4:16 that “God is love.” It seems a simple and, by now, obvious thing to say, but what does it really mean? It turns out that most of what we think it means has been determined by straight, white men, which means that our understanding of love and all its related fields – sex, …
St. Marsha P. Johnson
St. Marsha P. Johnson was a panhandler, a hustler, a drag queen, an activist, and a saint. Born Malcolm Michaels in Elizabeth, New Jersey on August 24, 1945, she was told by her mother on coming out that she was “lower than a dog.” As soon as she graduated high school, she, like other queer youth in 1963, moved to …
David Loved Jonathon
This past Sunday was rough. I am pleased to see so much happening in the wake of the events in Charleston. Seeing Confederate flags removed in Alabama and initiatives to do the same throughout the South is encouraging. However, there is so much more to do than change the racist décor. While we endeavor to keep the quest for racial …
It’s the Queer Bits That Save Us
Michael Warner, in Fear of a Queer Planet, defines queer as “resistance to the regimes of the normal.” I can’t think of a better way to describe life in God. Yet we see in our examination of these two early churches, the Jerusalem church described in Acts and the Beloved Community of the Johannine literature, an attempt to focus on …
SS. Sergius and Bacchus/AWAB Sunday
It has been wonderful the last few weeks watching court decisions roll in, toppling the state dominoes of bigotry. Marriage equality is now the law of the land in 30 states, which accounts for 60% of the population of the U.S. It’s a beautiful time for all who care about justice. Even more for those who long for equality and …