A note on Pride Month flag

In case you hadn’t noticed, for the month of June, there’s been a rainbow flag flying outside St. Patrick’s. I wanted to tell you all about why we chose to put up that flag.

We began flying the flag to show support for the LGBTQ people both in our congregation and our wider community, and to let them know that we are one of the churches in town where they can worship safely and openly.

But this is about more than this one moment in time.

Every day in our community, LGBTQ people face hatred and discrimination just for being who they are.

We’ve seen the statistics of homelessness and suicide rates, which are much higher among LGBTQ people than in the general public.

We’ve heard the stories of kids being kicked out of the house, forced into abusive conversion therapies, or bullied by their classmates or even their teachers for being “different.”

We’ve seen the harassment campaigns and death threats being leveled at librarians, teachers, community groups, and school boards for even offering people the opportunity to learn about and get to know the LGBTQ community.

We’re all aware of the church leaders, some of whom are in the greater Lebanon area, who see LGBTQ people as a convenient enemy to bash rather than as people created in God’s image and beloved by their maker.

That all is happening now, right here in Lebanon. It’s happening every single day. And tragically, that isn’t going to stop at the end of this month.

My husband and I have two young children. We’re raising them with our values: that character and integrity matter, that hard work and perseverance are important, and most importantly that they should never, ever doubt that we love them and that Jesus loves them, just the way they are.

And it’s important to us, as I’m sure it is to lots of other parents in the Lebanon area, that we raise them in a church that affirms and supports what we’re teaching them at home.

So let this flag serve as an outward marker of an inward reality: that we at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church affirm and believe that God loves everyone, everywhere — no exceptions, no conditionals, and no asterisks.

We don’t believe that LGBTQ people should have to choose between living their lives with integrity, and getting to know Jesus Christ in the church.

Our congregation has been blessed with so many LGBTQ Christians, people of deep faith and deep commitment to the Kingdom of God. We’re just going more public.

To our LGBTQ siblings, here’s our message: We welcome and celebrate you with open arms and open hearts.

We understand why you might not trust the church.

Like I said, there are far too many church leaders that teach that God won’t love you quite as much if you happen to be attracted to the “wrong” gender, or if your gender identity doesn’t fit into their well-defined box.

We at St. Patrick’s repent for the church’s historic role in perpetuating the hatred, harassment, and discrimination you continue to face every day.

And, at least for this particular congregation in this particular place, as part of the Jesus Movement, we are committing to do the work to make this relationship right.

If you’d like to get to know God in a place that will fully accept and celebrate you living your authentic life openly just like God made you to be, we’ve got an open door, a welcoming worship service, a loving community, and a delicious breakfast waiting for you on Sunday morning.

Or if you’ve been wounded by the church and would just like to dip your toe in the water and talk one on one, I’d love to get to know you… my email is at the bottom of the screen right now. No pressure, no proselytizing, just an ear to listen, a heart to understand, and a nice hot cup of coffee to drink.

To the wider Lebanon community: We invite you into this space as well. If you’ve been grimacing your way through church, thinking of a beloved brother or child or aunt or friend while the pastor beats up on LGBTQ people from the pulpit, if you’ve been staying away from church because you just can’t accept that God would hate the people you love, St. Patrick’s may be the place for you. We’d love for your family to come and see what our family is all about.

What we want to be is a safe and affirming space for LGBTQ people to live authentically and worship the God who created them, or for people who love LGBTQ friends and family members to hear a message of love from the pulpit, or for parents who are raising their children to believe that God loves everyone, to have a church home that affirms that belief. That’s what we want to be.

And when we’re given the choice between standing with the oppressors or standing with the oppressed, God help us to choose the oppressed every single time.

Will we stumble? Of course. We’ve stumbled before, and we’ll do it again. God may be perfect, but we aren’t.

But with God’s help, I pray that St. Patrick’s will continue to be a place where all of God’s children — lesbian, bisexual, straight, gay, cisgender, transgender, fluid, queer, non-binary, asexual, or still figuring out who they are — will feel the love of God and the embrace of a community that accepts them just the way God made them, and can join with us in worshipping and fulfilling the mission of God in Jesus Christ.

God loves everyone, everywhere — no exceptions, no conditionals, and no asterisks. Everyone. Everywhere.

We pray that we can be part of God’s mission in seeing and realizing that love not just in our church, but throughout our community and our nation.

God’s peace,

-Cortney+