A Painful Conflict
Pride Month!
June 2, 2024
A Painful Conflict!
Mark 2:23-3:6
The love of God and the Church I discovered when I was younger was wild and boundless. But as I grew up and grew into my queerness, I had to reckon with some heavy questions. As I entered into preaching the gospel, and stuffed myself farther and farther into the closet, finding a religion that proclaimed the love of all to be so willing to vilify those who were not "straight", making them "intrinsically evil," having a District Superintend say, "Anyone that is gay is out of here.", with such a mean, angry and vindictive voiced. When a queer kid came to see me needing help and sought it out, I was lambasted and told "We do not help such people," and he committed suicide after I turned him away.
From that moment on I could not live with myself and the spiritual tradition that nurtured my early years of life and service, could not be a part of the very same entity that so recklessly brought devastation upon young people questioning their sexuality, the very essence of their being! And so the Church? finally came for me as I found in the words of Sebastion Moor, "Living your life to meet the expectations of others is a sin!"
As a teenager, I longed to see the face of Christ with my own eyes, I spent many, many hours in prayer and meditation, desperate to catch a glimpse of my beloved God. That longing has changed. For now, I have seen the face of the crucified Christ, over and over again. I saw Christ when I held in my arms a young gay kid dying; And when I looked into the stunned, grief-stricken eyes of Jim, Jay, Cindy, and so many other young people as they told me how they felt about being abandoned by family, their church, their friends and sleep on the streets.
I was angry for a long time at the Church, but now no anger is left.? Thomas Merton wrote of the conflict, that Jesus presents in our gospel when he and his disciples violate the Sabbath law, by plucking kernels of corn on the sabbath and healing the man with the withered hand.--a conflict between those who become self-righteous and judgmental of the sins of others, becoming self-righteous over the sexual orientations that people are born with, and those who learn to walk humbly, accept their essential unity, and repent of the terrible harm done to queer people.
For the better part of my life, I have looked upon the broken Christ, the Christ of the persecuted, the Christ bound to us in desolation. Now my deepest yearning is to see the healing of their wounds, the binding up of what was broken, the wiping? away of every tear, "the making of all things well," and in the words of Cardinal Emmanuel Suhard I will continue:
"To be a witness does not consist in engaging in propaganda, nor even in stirring people up, but in being a living mystery. It means to live in such a way that one's life does not make sense if God did not exist"!
Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!
"For LGBTQ+ young people, having an affirming community makes all the difference. Your participation and fundraising efforts help The Trevor Project continue to provide free, secure 24/7 suicide prevention and crisis services. This effort will also support Trevor’s ongoing public education, advocacy, and research initiatives, all in hopes of building a world where LGBTQ+ young people are safe and free to be themselves.
I am sacrificing a meal a day to donate! Join Me!
"Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!
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Dr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T.
Post Office Box 642656
San Francisco, CA 94164
415-305-2124
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(30th Anniversary Celebration!)
领英推荐
October 5, 2024
5:00 p.m.
Victor's Pizza
(Where Bought Youth First Pizza!)
Prayer of St. Brendan!
"Help me to journey beyond the familiar
and into the unknown.
Give me the faith to leave old ways and break fresh ground with You. Christ of the mysteries I trust in You to be stronger than each storm within me.
I will trust in the darkness and know that my times, even now, are in Your hands.
Tune my spirit to the music of heaven,
and somehow, make my obedience count for You"
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(Temenos and Dr. River seek to remain accessible to everyone. We do not endorse particular causes, political parties, or candidates, or take part in public controversies, whether religious, political or social--Our pastoral ministry is to everyone!
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"The people I love the best jump into work head-first without dallying in the shallows and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight. They seem to become natives of that element, the black sleek heads of seals bouncing like half-submerged balls.
- Marge Piercy, from “To Be of Use”