025 Big Gay Church, the UCC, why your church needs to be LGBTQ affirming, & how not to get there

Episode 025 Big Gay Church, the UCC, why your church needs to be LGBTQ affirming, & how not to get thereThis week we visit one of the largest predominately Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer congregations in the nation.  It is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and we give a brief overview of that denomination.  We discuss why it's ok for a church to identify as an LGBTQ congregation ("I mean, we wouldn't say we are a STRAIGHT church, would we?!" aka heterosexual privilege) and why most churches need to get their sh*+ together about the queer community...yesterday.  We talk about our own experiences with a church making the journey to become officially open and affirming, and all the things we learned NOT to do...the hard way.  We talk about the spiritual violence done to LGBTQ people by "moderate" "silent" and "holy conversation" church.  And we discuss why our experience worshiping in this congregation, with it's money, large buildings, paid clergy staff, bookstore, and every other symbol of power and institution, was still a positive worship experience.In the episode, Joshua references a blog he wrote about a not-so-"holy conversation" experience in a denominational setting.  That blog, "When Holy Conversation Isn't Holy" can be found at  http://ellipsisthought.blogspot.com/2013/07/when-holy-conversation-isnt-holy.htmlFor an OFFICIAL view of the United Church of Christ, visit their website at ucc.org