Blogs
Greater NW Pride: Building a Better World, for God's Sake
6/14/2019
Building a Better World, for God’s Sake I write this blog post in the middle of the third day of the Annual Conference of the Oregon-Idaho United Methodist Church Conference (OR-ID UMC AC) in Eugene, Oregon. It has been exciting to listen and watch to the changes afoot in this Conference as more out-LGBTQ+ people and people of color and allies are voicing their concerns while celebrating life. People are wearing their self-identity with rainbow buttons and t-shirts, “He/Him/His,” “...
Greater NW Pride: Happy Pride and Happy Pentecost!
6/4/2019
Happy Pride and Happy Pentecost! This coming Sunday is Pentecost, the day the Church celebrates the descending of the Spirit upon the earth. This was no ordinary event, by any stretch of the imagination! With Jesus having ascended into the heavens, there came not a quiet breeze, but the sound like the “rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where (the disciples_ were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them ...
Greater NW Pride: Preferred Gender Pronouns and LGBTQ+ People in the Church
5/30/2019
Preferred Gender Pronouns and LGBTQ+ People in the Church When growing up in modern American society, I remember as a young adult—who was identifying as white, cisgender, straight, male at the time—I would get letters addressed and sent to me as “Mr. Brett Mitchell.” The young woman I was engaged to at the time would get letters addressed to her with “Miss.” When we got married in 1978, soon letters were sent and addressed to us as “Mr. and Mrs. Brett Mitchell.” As she pointed out to me that...
Greater NW Pride: Pride Parades and Your Church
5/22/2019
Pride Parades and Your Church This last weekend I was blessed and happy to be working with the great folks at First United Methodist Church, Ashland. On Sunday morning, as I was entering the church to preach, I spied a beautiful, big rainbow flag fluttering in the breeze attached to their front sign! The flag reminded me that the time is coming up for LGBTQ+ Pride Parades, often held in June, which is LGBTQ+ Pride Month in the USA. And if you and your individual United Methodist Church want...
Children’s Literature, LGBTQ+, and Church
5/14/2019
Children’s Literature, LGBTQ+, and Church I am preparing for a trip to visit my granddaughter on the east coast in the coming weeks and started to shop around and see what I might bring with me in my new role as the grandfather who spoils his grandchildren. On one of the websites I scan daily, mombian.com, there was a new book that made me smile: A Plan for Pops! by Heather Smith and Brooke Kerrigan. It is one of the first gay grandparent books that I’ve seen publicized, and also...