Pride 2020 - The Church's Apology, Repentance, and Transformation

As Pride month comes to a close I'm so glad to have had the chance to add my voice to this important video project.  (Happy Pride to all my LGBTQ+ siblings!)

Here's a description of the video from its creator, Queer Grace Community:

"This Pride, forty church leaders from across denominations came together to say clearly to the LGBTQIA+ community: We did wrong. We are sorry. And we are taking steps to repair the damage done, and to transform our churches into the loving space they were always called to be.

"The practice of repentance and transformation is at the heart of Christian tradition. Acknowledging our sin, turning from it, and seeking change is part of the coming kingdom of God, where wounds are healed and the lost restored. Yet Christians have twisted the gift of repentance into a weapon wielded against those who had nothing to apologize for except the image of God in which they had been made. Christians have deeply wounded and traumatized the LGBTQIA+ community. It is time for the church to acknowledge the harm it has done, and commit to concrete and continuing acts of repentance, renewal, and reformation.

We offer our apology and our amends without expectation or demand of forgiveness. True forgiveness will take time. We need to demonstrate that we have done our work. For some in the LGBTQIA+ community, the scars may yet be too deep to hear our apology. That is a burden for us, as the wounders, to carry.

​We pray that no matter what, you hear that you are loved, just as you are."