Partners Liz Duncan, left, and Shari Martinez attend Danville Congregational Church services Sunday. Martinez holds her 7-year-old son Taylor Martinez.
Posted on 06/17/2005 7:57:48 AM PDT by SmithL
DANVILLE - Liz Duncan wanted to confide in her friends that she liked girls.
So, the teenager outed herself in a place she assumed would be safe, Bible study class.
Her friends kicked her out.
"I was crushed," recalls the 47-year-old Danville woman. "I didn't go to church for a long time."
Gays and lesbians risk rejection whenever they reveal their sexual identity. Yet icy receptions from parishioners or clergy fail to cut the spiritual cords.
"I don't think there's a day that I don't chat with God," said Kent Sack, executive director for the Rainbow Community Center of Contra Costa County. "My spirituality is very, very important."
A growing number of churches in the Diablo Valley area want to ensure that spiritual seekers of any sexual orientation feel welcome when they step into their congregations.
On Saturday, about 25 East Bay religious groups unfurl the welcome mat for an annual interfaith worship celebration. In its fourth year, the Witness Our Welcome celebration will feature music, an awards ceremony and spiritual messages filled with hope.
Scripture, organizers say, has often been inappropriately used to cleave gays and lesbians from God's flock.
Duncan and her partner, Shari Martinez, plan on attending the service at Danville Congregational Church. The couple joined that United Church of Christ parish after doing a bit of East Bay church shopping. The experience left them frustrated and without a church to call their own.
They turned to the Internet and found Danville Congregational, which displays its "open and affirming" status prominently on its Web site. They received a warm e-mail reply and have been going along with Martinez's 7-year-old son Taylor since the fall.
"It feels good and ends the week on a good note," Duncan said.
The Witness Our Welcome celebration began small with 12 religious organizations signing on, said organizer Barbara Reed of Danville.
It continues to expand and includes parishes representing many denominations, from Catholicism to Judaism. Some clergy belong to faith traditions that gay rights groups have criticized for issuing what they view as homophobic comments.
The clergy members participating in Saturday's service could be opening themselves to criticism from their denominations, said Steve Harms of Peace Lutheran Church in Danville.
"It's a clear commitment of congregations participating to commit ourselves to public affirmation of gay and lesbian people."
Barbara Reed and husband Scott represent the "Friends" in the San Ramon chapter of the group PFLAG, or Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.
They came up with idea for the service after hearing parents with strong religious ties say they didn't feel comfortable talking to clergy members or others in their congregation about their gay or lesbian children.
They also have a gay friend who said he felt no church really wanted him. They want to change that.
Partners Gary Leveque and Vance Jason of Livermore say they're proud to be performing in the choir at Saturday's event at the Danville Congregational Church.
Leveque, an art and drama teacher at Charlotte Wood Middle School in Danville, was outed and gay-bashed by a student in a 2001 Internet posting. The incident attracted national attention and jammed school board meetings.
Leveque and Jason describe themselves as a more spiritual than religious couple.
Jason went on a spiritual quest at 16 and decided organized religion wasn't for him. Leveque grew up Catholic and was later educated at the Mormon Brigham Young campus on Oahu.
"My father says that's a whole lot of information for a gay man," Leveque jokes.
"But I think of myself as a faith-based individual, and the way I practice my faith is the way that I walk through life."
Martinez and Duncan draw great strength from God.
"My faith is the source of my hope," Martinez said. "People will let you down, but God won't. That's what always held my faith constant."
Duncan smiles, looks at her partner, then adds:
"All the rest of it is noise."
Randy Myers covers religion and ethics for the Times. You can reach him at 925-977-8419 or at rmyers@cctimes.com.
There's usually a lot more to stories like that. Like, for instance, did she not only confess that she liked girls, but had no willingness to repent from acting on that desire? If so, then what they did was sad but appropriate, because we are not supposed to have the unrepentant and defiant in the fellowship.
Having said that, the church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for the perfected. Just because someone has sinful desires (I confess *I* like girls too, and my thoughts are not always pure in that regard) doesn't mean they should be cast out, be they hetero desires like mine or homo desires like hers. But somehow I doubt it was that simple.
Being a sinner is one thing, but being an unrepentent sinner is a whole other kettle of fish.
There's not a day that goes by that I'm not grateful that God loves me in spite of my sins. And I think it would be positively un-Christ-like for any Church to turn away anyone honestly seeking God.
Nevertheless, I have real problems with Churches that try to create "special" rules in order to be politically correct and socially relevant. The Lutheran Church has long had a simple rule that unmarried pastors were expected to be celibate. Now, they're going to change that rule. They are also in the process of turning pretend marriages into pseudo-sacraments.
Accepting sinners is a requirement for all Christian Churches, accepting sin is evil.
Darn that Word of God!
Who is this sin-friendly god they worship? I don't recognize him.
And isn't that what church is all about these days, making one "feel good".
"Diablo" is Spanish for "Devil". I wonder how it got the name -- did the old settlers forsee this day and the events thereof?
Unfortunately, that is the how a lot of people feel.
hate the player,
Not the game..
There is only one church, and the church is made up of those who have been saved. Those sinners who do not wish to repent of their sins do not belong in the church.
Colossians 3:5 NIV Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
Just wanted to point out that the Bible places greed on the same moral plane as sexual immorality - I sense a great many Christians that are very diligent in their aversion towards the latter but seem to give the former a free pass. I'm not suggesting that it was inappropriate for these people to be expelled from their church; I'm just wondering if the enforcement standard is being kept consistent across the board (maybe it is - I don't know - just a point for further thought).
1) If church is merely "a good note" you're doing something wrong. Or a lot wrong.
2) Sunday begins the week, not ends it, modern business calenders to the contrary.
When these women openly declare themselves to be immoral according to your list, than they should be booted out. I've yet to find someone who will openingly and publicly acknowledge themselves to be greedy or lusty and "loving it". Do you know of anyone?
However, it's not the women's fault. "Churches" who pretend there is nothing wrong are just deceiving these people who should confront their sins. Other more solid churches should have nothing to do with these denominations and denounce them for what they are-frauds. Instead we look the other way for the sake of ecumenicalism.
I'd actually have to say I've met a few - maybe not outright admitting it; but is denying a problem and not seeking correction any better of a situation? (I've seen a select few extreme-end televangelists who appear to fall in this category...)
You make a good point, though; I'm only suggesting that one should be careful about being selective in their zeal toward certain sins and not toward others, that's all I'm saying.
Frankly, I think the very thought of a sodomite treading on the sacred floors of a house of worship makes Jesus vomit. When will the government get sensible and relocate these vermin where they cannot contaminate us and our precious children?
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