RE: 2008 Welcoming Church Report

[Louie Crew <lcrew@andromeda.rutgers.edu>]

In most of the towns where I lived before coming to Newark 20 years ago, I'd
still be waiting if I refused to attend an unwelcoming church.  I went
anyway because if I did not go, they would miss God's invitation to be the
Church.

Don't waste time on the whale ride.  Heterosexist Ninevahs abound and await
our witness.

I love being a sissy, but I love being a Christian even more.   I take going
into the highways and hedges quite seriously, and other lgbt persons who
might do so too are sometimes lulled into less action by choosing the
comfortable pews.

We need to be in both safe and unsafe places until all places are safe.  Yet
when they become comfortable for lgbts, our work is hardly begun.
Congregations need to uncomfortable about other justice issues to which they
now pay little attention.   There are many congregations that welcome lgbt
persons -- some even have lgbt rectors -- that do not welcome more than a
token amount of poor people. Far too many parishes have no commitment to
serving the world unless the 'world' matches their accent and culture.
Those places are in great need of Christians in their pews to challenge
those perspectives.

We must Gideonize, always careful to send scouts to move lean and focused
into new neighborhoods, creating satellites of the Bride of Christ.  

Louie
Louie Crew, 377 S. Harrison St., 12d, East Orange, NJ 07018.  973-395-1068
http://queereye4lectionary.blogspot.com/ Queer Eye for the Lectionary