By Anna Lisa Gross
You may have thought you walked into a youth and young adult gathering with a lot of adult chaperones. Or you may have thought you were in a community center classroom. Why were a roomful of younger-leaning people sitting in swivel chairs bolted to desks watching a flickering projector beam litanies and hymn lyrics on the screen?
It was actually the annual Brethren Mennonite Council for LGBTQ+ Interests (BMC) worship service. We sang, prayed, and listened for the Spirit together. Many Brethren look forward to this worship service all year. It’s the highlight of Annual Conference for many people, and came on a day of unexpected pain and need for God’s abundant grace.
We would have preferred a more comfortable room with cozier seating. We really would have preferred that the projector wasn’t risking provoking seizures among the worshiping body. But we have been practicing patience for decades. We know how to be resourceful when circumstances aren’t suitable or sufficient. We used to have this worship service every year at a welcoming church near the Annual Conference site, until we were allowed to use the official facilities for this event.
Resilience is not something we cultivate by choice. Resilience is God’s Spirit moving within us to recreate and renew us in challenge, pain, and struggle.
A panel of Dakoda Kraenbring, Everett Fisher, and Liz Ullery-Swenson responded to BMC director Annabeth Roeschley’s invitations to reflect on these questions:
- What is the 10-word version of your story as an out gay/queer/trans person of faith?
- What do we grieve and what do we celebrate as lgbtqia+ Anabaptists?
- Who or what webs of resiliency nourish you–in the Church of the Brethren, BMC, and beyond?
Washington (D.C.) City Church of the Brethren was honored as the newest member of the Supportive Communities Network.
The event eagerly anticipated the 50th anniversary of BMC, which will be celebrated in Minneapolis, Minn., in May.
— Anna Lisa Gross is a pastor at Beacon Heights Church of the Brethren in Fort Wayne, Ind.
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Find more Church of the Brethren news:
- Conference business includes resolutions on weapons transfer, care for immigrants and refugees, polity adjustments for licensed and commissioned ministers
- Essential services of ordinances now available online as For All Who Minister prepares for reprinting
- Brethren Disaster Ministries Rebuilding Program serves Hurricane Helene and Western Maryland storm survivors
- Shine Everywhere free six-week worship series helps churches nurture faith at home
- Feature for Earth Month and Poetry Month: Invitations to look up, to seek abundant life