To the Saints of Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod,
Today concludes our offerings of formal video prayers for PRIDE month, based on the resources of Reconciling Works. With PRIDE set alongside our current national call for racial justice in the wake of the latest string of police brutality, we have been celebrating the trailblazers who moved people’s hearts and minds, who paved the way for expanding the love and acceptance shown to queer people and those who are black, indigenous, and people of color.
To my LGBTQIA+ siblings, know this: You are made in God’s image. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Every race, every color, every body type, every spirit reflects the fullness of God. You are who you were created to be. Our Creator is not one gender but God is at the same time full of gender and also beyond gender. The divine image is a spectrum of color. Sacredness is revealed in rainbows of beauty. You are created in the image of a God bursting with love for humanity. From the very beginning, the Almighty looked at you and declared your goodness. You are created in God’s image.
Pride Prayer June 28 2020 from Southeastern PA Synod, ELCA on Vimeo.
But not long after the beginning of time, the Church told lies about who and what was acceptable in God’s sight. We as the Church have killed and wounded our LGBTQIA+ siblings by placing limits on God’s love, by declaring bodies sinful that God has called good. We as the Church have killed and wounded our Black, Indigenous, and People of Color siblings, remaining mired in systems and policies of white supremacy and racism. For decades upon centuries upon millennia, the Church should have looked at you and seen the image of God. I am deeply sorry for all of the times you have been told otherwise.
Church, we must own the hurt we have caused. We must repent and create justice for those we have wronged both personally and systemically. PRIDE month is ending but our kingdom-building work is not done.
Let us pray.
“Weaver of justice, let us be your hands and feet! May we follow the Spirit’s lead and work for justice and equity for our LGBTQIA+, brown, and black siblings. In prayer we say Black Lives Matter, that our LGBTQIA+ siblings are made in your image, and we are committed to your ministry of reconciliation. In your mercy. Hear our prayer.”
— The Rev. Karen Sease