One of my favorite things to see are rainbow flags outside a church or on the message board. It not only shows growing acceptance and makes an LGBT+ person feel welcome, it minimizes the risk of walking into a church and being turned away. As an LGBT+ person who grew up in church, is still religious though my faith has evolved as I grew, and who left a toxic environment, I know the fear of trying to find a new church. Still, though I see flags on a church lawn or message board, sometimes I’m not brave enough to risk being vulnerable and going in. This is what turned me to online church sermons and worship. First, I looked for any services, but that still left the risk of being torn down by non-affirming preachers. So I found LGBT+ affirming ones. The best source I found was Queer Theology, which I’ll tell you about in a moment. But recently, I found another called Believe Out Loud.
Going back to Queer Theology, it has a website and social media presence where you can find them and their message. They focus on showing that LGBT+ Christians do have a place with God. They discuss the Bible, religion and counter all the questions and arguments that might exclude LGBT+ Christians from Christianity. Queer Theology offers a weekly Bible podcast, as well as hosted speakers and worship sessions. Their Instagram, which I follow, will give you excerpts of speakers and podcasts if you want to check them out. On the website, you’ll find most all the information you’ll want to know, from who speaks at sermons, their conversation topics and even fast answers to questions you might have about how gender and sexuality and Christianity collide. Their podcasts are free to listen to, their website is free to use and it’s all waiting and available for you!
This second source for LGBT+ believers is new to me. I stumbled upon it from an advocate article explaining the Easter service. According to Trudy Ring, Believe Out Loud is a “community for LGBTQ people of faith” and it “has organized its first online service for Easter, featuring readings from a diverse group of LGBTQ clergy and a performance by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C..” Although by the time you read this, Easter will have passed, this community will still be available for you to visit and be a part of. The Believe Out Loud website offers tags on their homepage so you can find information tailored to you. The options range from how you identify to your denomination or subject of interest. Resources offered include a variety of articles, poems or other reading materials with a couple audios. The website holds most of their interactions, but they’re also active on social media. Their YouTube channel provides short meditations, notes on LGBT+ happenings and affirmations. From Instagram, they upload verses and notes about those verses in the post message. And just like Queer Theology, all their resources are free and waiting for you!
So, now that you know these positive outlets are here, take a break from all this sad and disheartening news. Go read a poem that brings you closer to yourself or God, spend some time in meditation or binge the Bible podcast. Yes, I said binge, because once you find out how uplifting it is, you’ll never want to lose that feeling!