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MUSIC: TRAVELLING THE ROAD TO FREEDOM - Wild Goose Resource Group (Words John L. Bell & Graham Maule, Music John L. Bell)

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Canon Rachel Mann:

Good morning. This is a service all about pride. Indeed, this service is full of pride and I, like the other contributors, wish to claim pride as something to celebrate. I know that for many listeners such a statement might raise an eyebrow or two. After all, for much of Christian history, the word ‘pride’ has signalled something negative. It is one of the Seven Deadly Sins, those attitudes and behaviours which lead people away from a relationship with God. However, as this service explores, the kind of pride we celebrate today is not the selfishness of putting one’s own desires or wants ahead of others, but a richer pride in who God makes us and calls us to be. This understanding of pride has been hugely important for LGBTQ+ people of both faith and none. It has become a crucial way for the wider LGBTQ+ community to overcome shame, challenge prejudice, and celebrate diversity. As Pride Month draws to a close and as LGBTQ+ people celebrate fifty years since the first London Pride, our service today acknowledges that if religion has not always been a friend to LGBTQ+ people, God himself rejoices in the wonderful individuality of everyone created and we thank him for his blessings.

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MUSIC: TRAVELLING THE ROAD TO FREEDOM - Wild Goose Resource Group (Words John L. Bell & Graham Maule, Music John L. Bell)

Canon Rachel Mann: When I hear that beautiful, reflective hymn by the Iona Community, I am reminded that Jesus himself faced both cheers and mockery as he walked the path of liberation and redemption. Jesus’s journey of self-sacrifice and love from Palm Sunday to Easter Day is the great journey of liberation and salvation. We in the LBGTQ+ community have walked our own long paths towards freedom. For every Pride March at which thousands have gathered and cheers been shouted, there have been rejections and stumbling. It would be easy to assume that a country like the UK Ìýis a safe place to be LGBTQ+. However, in the last year alone, twenty percent of LGBTQ+ people experienced a hate crime or incident because of their sexuality or gender identity.

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So pride really matters. In my own case, I’ll never forget my first experience of Pride in Manchester in the 90s. I am a trans woman who transitioned in my early 20s. I later became a Christian and I was unsure how the Church would welcome me. I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of welcome that my new Christian friends gave me, a trans woman, at my evangelical church. The wider Church however seemed to tolerate my sexuality and gender identity at best. It seemed it was okay to be me as long as I kept quiet about it. It was at a Pride in the late 90s that I first encountered a full public celebration of who I am. The floats, the dancing, the partying, the acceptance. The sheer fact that I was with people who accepted me for who I am was a taste of heaven.

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God of grace and love,

We thank you that you

Dwell among us in your Son,

And reveal your delight in humanity

And show us the Way

Of liberation. Amen.

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MUSIC TWO: RAISE UP – SEMLER (Grace Semler Baldridge, Jax Anderson)

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Canon Rachel Mann:Ìý

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In one of the most beautiful passages in the Bible, the Psalmist says to God:

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Reading ( Ruth Wilde)

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

that I know very well.

My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.

In your book were written

all the days that were formed for me.

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LGBTQ+ Christians have claimed these words of Psalm 139, finding awe and pride in who God has formed them to be. Our first reflection comes from the Rev’d Colin Coward MBE, founder of Changing Attitude England, who has worked tirelessly for decades for LGBTQ+ inclusion.

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REFLECTION FROM Rev’d Colin Coward MBE

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MUSIC: SALVATION DAY – VICKY BEECHING (composer Vicky Beeching)

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READING (JAY HULME):

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When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

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‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

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‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

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‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

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‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

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‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

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‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

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‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

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MUSIC: GABRIEL'S OBOE performed by Yo-Yo Ma (Ennio Morricone)

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Canon Rachel Mann:

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Whenever I hear these words from the Sermon on the Mount my heart soars and my faith is challenged. It soars because Jesus cuts through all the rubbish and barriers and blockages human beings place in the way of those who want to know God. He says we are counted among the blessed when we make space for others. We are blessed when we are merciful and when we hunger and thirst for righteousness. We are blessed when we seek to make peace.

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It is a salutary reminder to those who would follow Jesus to model holy ways of love and welcome towards LGBTQ+ people and all who have had shame imposed on them.

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But I am also hugely challenged by Jesus’s words. As I read them, he is saying that God blesses those who are gentle and tender as they exercise the responsibility and measure of power that has been given to them. When we are gentle and tender with one another that is the way to the Kingdom of Heaven.

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And if I, like so many LGBTQ+ people, have claimed an appropriate pride in who I am, I am called to be gentle too. Not to apologise for hate. Never for that. But to check my power and privilege, so that I can help ensure there’s space for a whole range of views, opinions and people to take their place at Jesus’s open and welcoming table; I am called to be tender enough to let the love of God lead the way. This is not about putting yourself down but about being more yourself. When we make peace with ourselves we have more space to be peacemakers. We have something in which to take appropriate pride.

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MUSIC: BEATI QUORUM VIA – THE SIXTEEN / HARRY CHRISTOPHERS (Stanford)

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Our next contributor Ruth Wilde is Director of Inclusive Church, an organisation which campaigns for the full inclusion of all those who experience exclusion from church, including LGBT people like herself. She begins by reflecting with joy on her experience of Pride as a queer Christian..

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REFLECTION: RUTH WILDE

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MUSIC: ALL ARE WELCOME – THE CHAPEL OF ST IGNATIUS CHOIR (The Chapel of St Ignatius Choir)

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As we heard in the words of the Beatitudes, Jesus invites those who would see and know God into the ways of blessing. As far as I can see he does not discriminate against or between gay and straight, cis or trans, bi or lesbian. He wants to build that bigger community – a church of hope and celebration – in which all are welcome and division is gone. This, I believe, is that of which St Paul speaks when he says, ‘There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.’ This, for me, is that vision of heaven I glimpsed at Pride all those years ago made manifest in the Church.

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The poet and trans man Jay Hulme recently came to faith in Jesus. He brings with him a rich sense that God is transforming the world beyond the confines of the church as much as within. He helps us to treat with that more generous and holy church to which I think we are being called during this pride month and beyond. As we hear in his very personal poem, Beatitudes for a Queerer Church, he invites us to see how God is alive in those who feel themselves to be on the edge in a sometimes hostile and critical world.

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POEM – JAY HULME

Beatitudes for a Queerer Church

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Canon Rachel Mann;

Let us pray …

Glorious and generous God, thank you for your abundant grace, and for your delight in all you have made. We bless you for your love in Jesus Christ which calls all people to yourself.

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We pray for all those who face or have faced discrimination, exclusion and hate in virtue of their sexuality or gender identity. God of Justice and truth, guide us into your ways of blessing which bring about peace and concord and hope for all.

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We give thanks for all those who have gone before us, creating paths of hope and promise for the LGBT+ community.

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We remember those who have paid a heavy and impossible price because of prejudice and bigotry. And we ask, Oh Lord, that weÌý would remember that you stand in solidarity with all of us in your Son.

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As we grow into the likeness of your love and hope, help us to embrace that glorious pride that we bear fully the image of God.

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MUSIC: THE TABLE – JONATHON TRAYLOR (Jonathan Traylor, Jeff Pardo)

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As this special Pride service draws to a close, we hear from Augustine Tanner-Ihm, an African-American gay man and evangelical minister who is about to be ordained priest in the Church of England.

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REFLECTION: AUGUSTINE TANNER-IHM

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CLOSING LINK AND BLESSING: Rachel Mann

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And so we gather together all our prayers in the words of the Lord’s Prayer:

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Our Father, who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name,

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory,

For ever and ever. Amen.

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This morning we’ve heard stories of pride and perseverance; of hope and honesty. We’ve heard how God believes in us and calls us to embrace our truest selves. Making the world a kinder, more loving and God-enriched place is tough and tiring. It takes solidarity and community. It takes the long haul. The Good News is that God is patient and never, ever gives up. He sustains loving community.

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And may the peace of God

Which passes all understanding

Keep your hearts and minds

In the knowledge and love of God.

And the blessing of God almighty,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit

Be with you and all those whom you love and pray for,

This day and always. Amen

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MUSIC: Amazing Grace – Libera (Trad.)

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