My favorite Christmas

Do you have a favorite Christmas? I have one that stands out from all the rest. Now, all the rest have been pretty wonderful, but this one Christmas was, on a scale of 1 to10, at least a 100.

It was 1986. I was in rehab for chemical dependency. Yes, I'm an alcoholic and an addict, something I'm grateful for, but that's another story. 

The Biggest Bully

Thankfully, there is a lot of talk these days about bullying. Bullying has probably been occurring since Adam and Eve. It's a form of judgement and we humans sure do love to judge, myself included. After all, when we judge someone else, it gives us a respite from looking at ourselves.

So, what's the difference between a group of teenagers yelling "Fag!" and a church telling it's flock that homosexuality is a sin?

Okay, the group of teenagers may be a bit cruder, but the church's message can cut far deeper. Many people believe that a church is an authority on matters of morality. I used to believe that. How many of our teens who commit suicide were influenced directly by the preachings of a church? I shudder to think.

Radical Hospitality

In January, 2005, the congregation of the church I attend, voted to become "Open and Affirming." ONA is a designation in the United Church of Christ that "a local church, campus ministry etc."
has publicly and specifically declared that those of all “sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions” (or “lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender” people) are welcome in its full life and ministry (e.g. membership, leadership, employment, etc.) It bespeaks a spirit of hospitality and a willingness to live out that welcome in meaningful ways." 

Why me?

If you're gay, you must have asked that question a gazillion times. 

It took a long, long time for me to reach a point where I could look in the mirror and say that I'm grateful to be gay. Then, it changed the that simple question completely. It went from being negative to positive. 

There were several things that had to happen before I could honestly say that I'm grateful to be gay.

If you could understand God, then just how powerful a God would that be?

Sometimes, when I run into old friends whose path I haven't crossed in a long time, I see the look of horror, and/or bewilderment on their faces when I tell them that I'm a member of a church.

If you're gay, you've been hurt by a church. That's the simple truth. 

An Empty Bed

In 2008, I rented a movie called An Empty Bed. It was written and directed by Mark Gasper and released in 1990. It raised a point that I'd never been conscious of before. Gay men who reached their mid-twenties before 1969, the year of the Stonewall Riots and the celebrated year of the birth of Gay Rights, tend to be reclusive as they age.