On Dec 21, 2015 ⋅ 2 comments
Merry Christmas to you! My deep Christmas wish is the same one expressed in the spring this year through the website Harmony In Church, a resource created to help Christians live together in harmony when we disagree on some things. Perhaps you remember that effort. When I looked back at Christmas reflections from years past, […]
On Oct 21, 2015 ⋅ 2 comments
I have been pondering upon a lovely reception the other night where Parity, a faith-based LGBTQ-focused organization based in New York City, honored me with their Faithful Servant Award. They invited me to speak for three minutes after some very kind words about me from Ashley Birt, Director of Christian Education at Rutgers Presbyterian Church. […]
On Oct 11, 2015 ⋅ One comment
In anticipation of Coming Out Day, 2015, I went back and found my reflection from 2011 on my gratitude for all the courageous LGBTQ people whose coming out has been the central force for the amazing transformation toward inclusion these past four years. I am still immensely grateful. The need for LGBTQ people — especially […]
On Sep 24, 2015 ⋅ No comments
Even as we strive to emulate God’s infinite love, embracing and welcoming all as they are, we sometimes falter. Bisexuality invisibility is one instance of that faltering. During this Bisexual Awareness Week, I felt called to share my thoughts on how we too often “fly over” the B in LGBT in a recent post for […]
On Sep 4, 2015 ⋅ 9 comments
Over many years, I have been in an on-again, off-again conversation online with a conservative Presbyterian named Joe. As long as I have known him, Joe has been lobbying for his congregation to leave my church, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)—to forsake the mainline for a more clearly conservative Presbyterian denomination. Joe insists that the days […]
On Aug 14, 2015 ⋅ One comment
I recently presided at the wedding of two wonderful young men, and at that wedding, I had the opportunity to speak with the father of one of the grooms. He gracefully shared with me his struggle to rethink his stance toward LGBT people while also maintaining trust in the sturdiness of his faith’s foundations. After […]
On Jun 18, 2015 ⋅ No comments
It has been some weeks now since 14F passed in the Pittsburgh Presbytery. I confess that that day, and the many leading up to it, have been a blur. I can hardly believe how far we have come as a community. And I cannot help but pray in thanks for the evidence that more and […]
On Mar 23, 2015 ⋅ 6 comments
Last week, my church, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), reached a historic moment. Ten years after being put on trial by my church for presiding over the wedding of two women, I witnessed that same church embrace LGBT people and their families by affirming marriage as a “unique commitment between two people.” Though I am still […]
On Dec 23, 2014 ⋅ 2 comments
The story of Christmas is so often told as the story of triumph of light over dark. From John 1:5 to 1 Peter 1:19, the Bible is suffused with allusions to the comings and goings of light. How are we to understand this? As Christmas draws near and we ponder this question, I am humbled […]
On Dec 23, 2014 ⋅ 2 comments
Dear friends in cyberspace, I write to let you know I am on the brink of a new approach to winter for myself: I am going to be still from Christmas to Easter this year. Well, almost still. With a few exceptions, I am going to hibernate this winter, something I have never done before. […]
