am i a relativist? August 27, 2008
Posted by relsdork in God, christian, gay rights, religion, struggle.Tags: christianity, gay rights, God, pride, relativism, religion
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If I held a completely relativistic position, I wouldn’t vote or march in Pride or spend so much time trying to elaborate on the things I believe. I believe, however, in living as an example, not taking up “selling” methods.
I do believe that other paths can lead to encounters with the divine. God certainly appears differently to different figures in the Bible. Each Biblical story takes on different meanings and shows many ways to encounter God and many ways God interacts with people. I by no means think that God stopped communicating with Humanity after the crucifixion, nor do I believe that God is only made available to those who hear the Gospel or those who respond to the way that Christian tradition presents itself and has presented itself throughout history.
I would say that I don’t believe in a God that is exclusivist in any sense. I don’t believe that God is revealed solely through the words of one book, solely through the Life of one being, or solely to certain groups of people. The God I embrace is not boxed in such ways. Therefore, I find it irritating when some people place God into a box and sell God, defining and making promises on God’s behalf. I find it androcentric and arrogant, though I understand the motivations of such people and can appreciate their sincerest intent at helping Humanity, even if I strongly disagree with their validity.
mini sermon, final draft: “things i know to be true” August 27, 2008
Posted by relsdork in God, bible, christian, church, gay rights, religion, scripture, struggle.Tags: ccsm, church, congregationalist, God, pride, religion, ucc, united church of christ
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http://www.marriedtothesea.com
I know that I love God. While I don’t think I am capable of understanding the mystery of God, I know that God is. In Exodus 3:14, God said to Moses, “I Am that I Am.” There are so many ways of understanding this… but I love it. I love it. God is. God is beyond our descriptions and the limits of language, but I know that there is something beautiful about praising God, something powerful about scripture, something uniting me with the ground that I walk on, the trees which breathe my air, and the people in this world.
Religion, for me, is a continuing exploration. A PASSIONATE exploration. A submerging oneself in the Divine—feeling the Divine, breathing it in, but not necessarily grasping it. God is the joy and pain and connection that we CANNOT communicate, yet burn to be able to. This church lives in that connection. That’s why I love this church; I know that this church is a beacon of hope in the world in its loving appreciation of the mystery of God and its determination to live as fully as it can in connection with God and community.
I study religion in school and, as most of you know, there is a lot of ugliness to study in religion. Our tradition has been brought to us through a history of violence. We look back, shamefully, on a history of crusades and colonization, a history of wars and inequality. The history of religious activity holds prejudice, damaging doctrine, manipulation, lies, hunger for power, forcefulness… Even today, many bodies of religion continue to further violence, inequality, and injustice…
And there are churches like ours.
We are a rare breed and I am grateful every day that I have this church and community, where I don’t need to sign my name on some kind of contract or make of vows of conformity.
When I was talking to Art Domingue about being baptized here, he said, “we’ll ask you to say these 3 things, but if you’re not comfortable with them, we can work on that.” …How many churches would make that offer? For this church, it’s more important to participate and take joy in community than to have some kind of homogenous faith. There are so many churches out there that say they are welcoming, yet when one digs a little deeper, one finds that they are welcoming on the condition that you change certain things. When Penny says “whoever you are, wherever you are on life’s journey, you’re welcome here,” she MEANS IT. This church is supportive of people’s differences; it doesn’t smother them.
A few weekends ago, a group of members went to the Pride Parade. I’d never been to Pride before… but I won’t miss it again. There was such an energy, especially with the recent turn toward marriage equality. It was hopeful. Walking in the parade, I thought, How is this joy, this love, this support and community not Christianity? What God of love would call that glowing happiness that was inside me and other people that day “sin”?
Our church has realized what God’s love truly means… when we say it’s unconditional, we mean it. We have found how powerful it is when we can extend our love as freely as God does. We went to Pride because we understand that love is something to be celebrated and welcomed.
One of the most beautiful moments I experienced was seeing a gay family member in the crowd, screaming at me and waving his arms. He was supporting me as I was supporting him… and that’s what this church is—a web of people supporting each other in affinity groups, social gatherings, prayer, parades, classes and all of the other ways that we join together. We find joy in our similarities and celebrate our diversity. I love this church.
I’d like to close with something I reflected on after Rev. Bill McKinney spoke at our congregation. During the education hour before church, Carol Henton asked how we could describe our church to people. This is what I came up with:
“My church is progressive. We are non-dogmatic and diverse, valuing our Christian heritage, seeking to be open-minded, accepting, and self-critical, as well as critical of society at large in terms of social justice issues. On Sundays, we worship with a choir and an organ, and the rest of the week, we meet with each other in varying forms of community and place a strong emphasis on advocacy for human integrity. My church is educated and values education. My church is vibrant, hopeful, and diverse. To best understand my church, you have to look at what we do. This is how we best understand ourselves—by the ways that we speak and act in the world.”
This, I know to be true.
The audio version of this mini-sermon can be found here.
“backstage” at the pride parade June 30, 2008
Posted by relsdork in christian, church, gay rights, religion.Tags: church, ucc, pride, sf pride, lgbt, gay pride parade, san francisco, gay rights, open and affirming, ona
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So this morning I participated in the SF Pride Parade… AWESOME!!!!!
My morning started with a walk to the train station… it took me less time than I anticipated, so in my boredom at the train station, I started taking pictures…. I was pretty giddy for the parade.
Our church was wearing red, since that’s our thang, but I made sure to put on the only rainbow thing I had, a belt… oh high school and my days of pop-punk.
Caltrain was freaking packed. When the train doors opened, I just stood there for a second, like, “what am I supposed to do?” The seats were all full, the isles were full, and even the space in front of the doors was full. I had to stand on the steps! This got me so pumped!Holla, pride parade! And I have decided that I definitely need to make a rainbow scarf.
I met up with other congregants at the BART station in Millbrae and we took BART to Embarcadero, where we got off into the prideoliciousness.
So here are some pictures of “backstage” at pride, since we were actually in the parade. How much does CCSM rock? I took home one of these signs. Florence, I hope you know that I expect to post one of these in our window!!!
Sorry, there will be no pictures of naked men. Or women. Or those that fall in between.
People doing their makeup:
Does anyone else think that cross is awesome? I mean, not as if I’ve never seen a rainbow cross before, but when the float got started, amazing! People dancing around in colored robes and singing. Love it!
Kinda fun.
And yes, finally, marriage equality!
These look like Chihuly! And BTW, who is coming with me to the de Young to see the exhibit before September 23rd?
We decided that next year, we need to have balloons. And maybe music? Like, hello, let’s get the freaking choir out here! We also need to make shirts! Chelsea and I thought it would be cool to have a day before hand where we painted shirts. Next year, we need to be so much more awesome. We were brainstorming ideas after we got there.
The Episcopalians holding mass. How powerful.
We should definitely hold a mini-service at Pride. Like, we might not do a full-fledged sermon, but today was so spiritual. How much would it have been enhanced by holding hands and praying?
I am kind of jealous that some of these men look better in dresses than me. See? He is way hotter in that dress than I would be.
I love this!!!
Some of the stuff was a little obscure… like, a paint company? But hey, if you’re supporting pride, I kinda don’t care who you are.
Here’s Tomiko, Judy’s service dog. She was all dressed up, too!!! In this picture, she was resting. She was such a trooper!
After I had my turn holding the banner for our group, I rocked one of these babies 
This bad boy’s going in my window in my new apartment for sure. If Flo gets to fill the balcony with cigarette butts, I get to fill it with politics. Ha.
What a fantastic day! What an amazing world we live in, an amazing city San Francisco is, and an amazing church I have. I cannot be brought down today.
One of my favorite moments? My cousin screaming at me from the crowd! Woo!
Ya know, sometimes I love that I am such a sap. I loved today. People in the crowd were amazing. It was so powerful to be standing up there, making a statement that we are supportive… and to see all of the faces in the crowd so happy, so grateful. This is Christianity! Love, support, joy, community. This is God. Christianity is not just conservative Evangelicalism. There are churches out there that will not only not condemn you for your sexuality, but celebrate it with you. We believe that diversity is a blessing, that love is beautiful. This world needs more love and less divisive hatred. This world needs more justice, more marching, more yelling, more smiles, more support. Today was beautiful. Beautiful.
