Discussions about gender, gender identities, gender roles, biological sex, sexual orientation and gender expressions—among other concepts—are not new, nor do they appear out of nowhere. People in LBGTQ communities were not all born 20 years ago; therefore, sexual diversity is not an imposed recent issue. Sexual diversity exists and has been around forever. As a church that remains at the forefront and inserts itself into the world’s daily discussions, we must deepen the theological conversation on gender issues and continue opening spaces for dialogue in our temples.
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BPFNA-Bautistas por la Paz celebrates the support given to 15 projects for peace and justice during this year’s Peace Fund-Fondos por la Paz grant cycle. The Peace Fund-Fondos por la Paz was established in 2018 and empowers small, grassroots groups around the world doing the work of peacemaking on a local or regional level.
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Throughout history, women in every part of the world have made great strides, sometimes in spite of a significant lack of equality. With the help of women such as Lucretia Mott, Rosa Parks, and Marsha P. Johnson, the gap in equality in areas such as gender, race, and sexual orientation has become more and more narrow. Currently, we are very fortunate that these women and so many more have made these strides, but we still have a long way to go - and part of it comes from the way we approach feminism even among each other as women.
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Gail here on behalf of your Board of Directors of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, Bautistas por la Paz, bringing you Advent greetings, a brief year end reflection and an announcement. I don’t know about you but this whole year has felt like the season of Advent. A waiting in the dark for light to be birthed once again. So from this year-long preparation, what do we want to remember from it?
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Lem Arnold grew up in Houston and Port Arthur, TX. He went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for undergraduate school and returned to Houston to attend medical school at the University of Texas at Houston. Lem worked as a pediatrician for about 30 years before retiring in 2016. He and his partner Pat live in Lafayette, GA.
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My kid was finally ready to go live at school as his true gender self. We were following the plan: new haircut, teachers and administrators on board. At the last minute he hung on the door of the minivan and didn't want to get out, so we said the verse together he had picked out for his transition (Joshua 1:9, “Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid, because God will be with you wherever you go”) and he got his courage up. We happened to walk into school with a BFF and dad, then climbed the steps together to the 5th grade hall, where the guidance counselor was hanging out in the classroom as planned, and the teacher gave me the signal.
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As Baptists, we are called to take seriously the words of scripture and to appeal to the spirit of God and to our community to interpret the meaning of those words in our lives. In studying scripture, one of the most pervasive themes we find is that of the importance of offering hospitality. While that might invoke thoughts of the uptown Hilton, in fact, the theme of hospitality in scripture involves welcome and preparation, it involves kindness and an effort to meet the needs of those in one’s care, and, significantly, it involves protection, especially protection of those who are most vulnerable. As mere stewards of that which is God’s, we are called to treat each other as family, and to provide welcome for every person as if he or she were our brother or sister.
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There isn’t a picture in our scriptures, anywhere, that depicts people who seem to have gotten their act together any better than this text. Just imagine: The people had one language and the same words. No communication barriers. They had migrated together, and had settled, in order to build community. They knew their strength was in numbers. They didn’t want to be scattered so they stopped, to build the first city in the world!
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I am subbing in an English class at one of the local high schools. A tenth grade boy on the front row is eyeing me suspiciously. Getting eyed suspiciously is nothing new for me, but this guy’s not letting up. His glare is unremitting, almost unblinking. He slouches in his chair as if to get a better view of all 6’2” of me, chews pensively on the eraser of his pencil and stares up as I pace and talk and gesticulate about the importance of verbs. He is definitely skeptical, though I doubt he has heard a word I’ve said about verbs.
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The following story is part of the Vocation of Peacemaking series where we asked members and friends of the BPFNA to write brief essays on their peacemaking work. Each story is a wonderful reminder that there are as many ways to live a life of peace as there are people, and that we can act for peace in real and important ways wherever we find ourselves. This essay comes from Laurel Dykstra, Anglican priest and community-based activist and writer, who lives in East Vancouver.
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The following is a sermon by BPFNA member Meredith Guest that she shared with the Unitarian Universalist congregation of Petaluma, California on September 1, 2014.
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On Monday, April 28, the United Church of Christ (UCC) filed a lawsuit in North Carolina arguing that North Carolina’s marriage laws limit ministers’ choices and restrict the freedom of religion guaranteed in the First Amendment, thereby making these laws unconstitutional. While the UCC is the only denominational plaintiff, the suit includes a number of members from other faith traditions. Two of these just so happen to be friends of the BPFNA, Nancy Ellet Allison and Nancy Petty (pastor at BPFNA Partner Congregation Pullen Memorial Baptist Church).
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The following was written by Rev. Greg Thomas in response to Pastor Charles Worley's comments regarding the LGBTQ community.
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The following statements were written by Evelyn Hanneman and LeDayne McLeese Polaski in response to Amendment One passing in North Carolina. The amendment states that, "Marriage between a man and a woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state."
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When the Baptist Peace Fellowship became officially welcoming and affirming about 15 years ago, some of the biggest critiques that we got were ‘this is not a peace issue. Our response to that is any justice issue is a peace issue, because we can’t have peace if we don’t have justice.
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Any justice issue is a peace issue because we can't have peace if we don't have justice, and we can't have peace for some people or any people if we don't have justice for all people.
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On Sunday, March 4, the congregation of University Baptist Church in Seattle unanimously approved a resolution of affirmation and celebration of the recently approved Marriage Equality Bill in the State of Washington.
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