About a month ago, Registered Runaway invited me to participate in the Love Letters series. I have written a letter to the LGBT community in the past, but I didn't want to just rehash that, so I took a lot longer to write this post than I ever intended. But I'm happy to say that I did meet my deadline and today my post is up over at RR's site. I wrote it to someone who emailed me here a few months ago. Dear friend, You sent me an email a few months ago. I’m pretty sure I responded, because I usually try to get around to responding to messages that people send me. But I don’t know that I said everything that I needed to say in my email back to you. And even though it was months ago, I want you to know that I think about your letter to me and I think about it often. And I want to … [Read more...]
Choosing Words Carefully
Over the past two days, I've seen the above quote from Rick Warren floating around Facebook a good bit. First off, I want to be clear that this was not something that Warren said with regard to the recent Supreme Court hearings (or the Chick-Fil-A thing last summer, when I also saw this quote used). After reading the original comment, seeing it used in that light is grossly out of context. However, it doesn't change the fact that a number of people have used it specifically when referring to the LGBT community. And I do find this troubling. The quote, as used by those who are speaking about the LGBT community, talks about being labeled as fearful or hateful. Probably by hearing words like "bigot" or "homophobic" used in conversations surrounding the issue of equality. I can … [Read more...]
Who’s the Hero: Resources by Gay Christians
Yesterday my Facebook feed became a sea of red. People from all walks of life changed their profile pics to reflect the changing public opinion regarding marriage equality. I think it's really cool how many people are standing up for LGBT rights. And I love that more and more straight people who won't personally benefit from the rights of gay people to marry are standing up for equality just because it's the right thing to do. I am proud to be an ally for my LGBT friends and I will continue to be a voice alongside them as long as I'm able. Sometimes though, it can be tempting to look at myself as some kind of hero for being willing to stand up for equality. We see a senator come around to supporting equality because of his gay son and we applaud him for changing his mind. We pat Rob … [Read more...]
Sitting Down to Eat by Brandon Ambrosino
I'm so thankful for all of the interesting folks I get to meet through blogging, and Brandon is no exception. When soliciting guest posts, I like to ask people to write about unexpected relationships, and he offers a fantastic take on that prompt. Enjoy! ++++++++ “Because you’re dating a Jew!” That was what my mom said after I finished complaining about the lack of Christmas decorations in my house. “Mom…” I started to reply as I rolled my eyes. I wouldn’t have done that in person, but that’s one of the benefits of having conversations like this over the phone. “I know, I can’t say ‘Jew,’” she said. “It’s not that,” I shot back. “It’s just…” and I tried thinking about how I should continue the conversation. “I just want a tree,” I … [Read more...]
Down In My Heart
Growing up we would sing was "I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart!" I was the kid who would always shout "Where?" at the end of each line and my classmates would jubilantly respond with "Down in my heart!" We would always sing lots of extra verses. We'd sing joy, but also, "I've got the peace that passes understanding down in my heart!" And we would sing, "I've got the love of Jesus, love of Jesus down in my heart!" Love was an assumed part of the song and of our lives. We knew that Jesus told us to love our neighbors. We were told the story of the Good Samaritan, so we knew that our neighbors were often unlikely suspects. We knew that God is love. Yesterday I stumbled across this video at Hemant Mehta's blog. It seems that every time there's a … [Read more...]
Repost: Dear Child
This post originally appeared on May 3, 2012. It was the only way that I could respond to the words said by Sean Harris to his congregation about kids who don’t meet gender norms. My own children fit almost no gender stereotypes, so his words hit especially close to home and it broke my heart to think that my kids could ever hear that at church. But please know that these words are for whoever needs them, not just children. You are loved. Dear Child, Do you know that you are dear? If you hear nothing else, read that and hold it in your heart. Keep it close, because I know you may have heard that you’re not dear. But with all of my heart today, I want you to know that you are. I’ve listened to the words that your pastor shared with your parents and I just want to … [Read more...]
Billy Graham, politics, and promoting the Gospel
Two weeks ago, Reverend Billy Graham met with Governor Mitt Romney to say that he would do all he could to help him. For a minister who has been noticeably absent from politicking since his days endorsing Richard Nixon, this was noteworthy news. Also noteworthy was that following this meeting, the organization’s website removed a page that answered the question “What is a cult?” and which included a section including Mormonism in the list of cults. To address the concerns about this decision, Ken Barun, chief of staff for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association said to CNN, “Our primary focus…has always been promoting the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We removed the information from the website because we do not wish to participate in a theological debate about something that … [Read more...]
Come Out for Love
Today is National Coming Out Day. To celebrate, I'm reposting my essay about a portion of my journey to becoming a gay-affirming Christian. This was a bit of a coming out for me when it originally posted in March of 2011. Sadly, the comments to the original post got lost in the move to WordPress, but I'd love to hear your thoughts. To those who have suffered at the hands of the Church, please know that there are those of us who love you just the way you are. As always, a huge thanks to Tina for sharing her journey with me, and for allowing me to share parts of it with you. I'm a better person thanks to her. ++++++++ I’m Alise, and I affirm gay relationships. This wasn’t something that I came to lightly. Rather, this has been a long journey that I have spent years waffling, … [Read more...]
Why the Church needs to stop reaching out
I was reading through my Facebook feed recently and saw that someone liked an interview with Jennifer Knapp. It was a person I do not generally associate with being LGBT affirming, so I was surprised to see an interview with a gay Christian where she spoke openly about her faith and orientation on their page. As I read what they had to say, I gained a bit of understanding. They posted the article so that "Christians can minister to those in the gay community." I often hear (and have said myself) that the Church needs to reach out to those in the LGBT community. You may also hear that the Church needs to reach out to liberals. And agnostics. And atheists. And any number of "others." But here's the thing. They're already there. Whatever group it is that we think we need to … [Read more...]
What I’m Really Saying
So I was kind of overwhelmed by the response to my post from last Friday. It was way huger than I imagined and kind of knocked me out for a bit. I mean, when your words even get shared on Google +, you know you've said something. Here's the deal. I don't want to "say something." I mean, I do, but I think far too often what I really want to say gets lost in the details. I'm blessed to have a number of loving relationships in my life. I have a lot of people who I can turn to whether I'm hurt or disappointed or excited or weepy or happy or whatever. I know that there are some who have to go through life feeling pretty lonely, and I am really lucky that I don't have to do that. There are three people who stand out. To you, my readers, they're my atheist husband, my male … [Read more...]
