There is a moving and interesting display at the church right now. I hope everyone gets an opportunity to see it this Sunday or at the PFLAG meeting on Monday night or some other time during the next week.
The Shower of Stoles is a collection of over a thousand liturgical stoles and other sacred items from gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons from twenty-six denominations in six countries. Each stole contains the story of a GLBT person who is active in the life and leadership of their faith community in some way: minister, elder, deacon, teacher, missionary, musician, administrator or active layperson. You can learn more about the Shower of Stoles here.
We have a selection of those stoles at the church on display in the sanctuary. They are a visible reminder that God's call to service in the ministry doesn't stop at any artificial boundary of sexual orientation. They also remind us that many who are called to ministry must make the painful choice of either hiding a central component of their identity or being open and forced to leave their church or denomination.
Thanks to ProgressiveChurchlady for arranging it all.
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Thanks goes to Open Circle Church and its liberalpastor for the opportunity to exhibit a partial display of the liturgical stoles from the collection this week.
Many don't know that I still have a foot in the door of the PCUSA (Presbyterian Church of the USA) and am an ordained Elder in this denomination. Clergy and elected lay elders called Commissioners are in the midst of their General Assembly meeting which is held every two years. At this very hour they are voting on whether to continue the oppression that exists within the church, or whether to remove the ban on GLBT ordination of elders and clergy. I have had several dear friends both gay/lesbian and straight whose lives have been upended by the struggle for equality in the Church.
Putting up this display this week was very theraputic for me personally. I am saying a prayer for a good friend of mine from "former church" who now lives in N. Carolina and is a commissioner to General Assembly which is being held in Birmingham, AL. She said to me when I saw her in early April and we were talking about it, "This is my last General Assembly (she's been going on and off working for equality for GLBT people of faith for a couple decades now) I'm giving up on the denomination if they can't get it right. There is just too much pain."
Here's to you Eleanor! Thank you for your dedication and committment to this work. Stay strong and faithful! I pray that the spirit of Love and Faithful Witness that you and others are bringing to General Assembly will change enough hearts and minds to create a change in PCUSA polity!
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