Jun 06
A CHRISTIAN community which warmly welcomes people who are LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer/Questioning, Intersex and Asexual), their friends and family, is celebrating its tenth anniversary in Liverpool this month. The inclusive celebration, hosted by the community known as ‘Open Table’, will take place on Sunday 17th June 2018, at St Bride’s Church on …
Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2018/06/06/come-as-you-are-lgbt-christians-celebrate-ten-years-of-inclusive-welcome/
Apr 21
LAST WEEK, at the launch of a new charity whose aim is to tackle prejudice and discrimination on the grounds of sexuality and gender in religious organisations, Bishop of Liverpool Paul Bayes spoke of his ‘pain and regret’ at the rejection and harm many LGBTI+ people have experienced personally and institutionally from Christians. More than 100 …
Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2018/04/21/just-love-for-all-bishop-speaks-out-against-inequality-and-harm-for-lgbti-christians/
Apr 08
This Lent, our inclusive church in Liverpool city centre offered a six-week course to explore the ‘queerness’ of the Christian tradition. Participants read and discussed Queer Virtue: What LGBTQ People Know About Life and Love and How It Can Revitalize Christianity (Beacon Press, 2016), written by the American Episcopal priest Elizabeth Edman. At the launch of …
Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2018/04/08/liverpool-lgbt-affirming-church-studies-queer-virtue/
Feb 22
This was what I put on a poster to invite residents of YMCA Liverpool (where I am part-time chaplain) to come and make pancakes last week. The aim was to bring people together for a simple food making activity to mark the beginning of Lent, the time of preparation for the Christian festival of Easter …
Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2018/02/22/who-gives-a-toss-you-can-a-lent-reflection/
Dec 24
AT A carol service last Sunday, hosted by Open Table, an inclusive Christian community in Liverpool, I read one of the readings, which I found moving, inspiring and too good not to share. Is there room? There rarely is when people are desperate and search for shelter. Is there room? There seldom is when people are …
Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2017/12/24/is-there-room-a-poem-for-christmas-eve/
Nov 23
THIS MORNING on Facebook I shared a quotation that seemed appropriate for today: ‘If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.’ – Meister Eckhart Meister Eckhart, the 14th century German theologian, philosopher and mystic, was referring to gratitude as a spiritual practice. As chaplain to Liverpool YMCA, which provides 170 beds …
Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2017/11/23/a-handful-of-hope-gratitude-as-a-way-of-life-thanksgiving/
Nov 13
OPEN TABLE – an ecumenical Christian worship community which offers a warm welcome to people who are: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer / Questioning, Intersex, Asexual (LGBTQIA) and all who seek an inclusive Church – has been a richly rewarding ministry at St Bride’s Liverpool since June 2008. St Bride’s relaunched in November 2007 with a …
Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2017/11/13/will-it-be-open-table-our-history-mission-vision-values/
Nov 07
TEN YEARS AGO this month, the UK’s longest running LGBT youth group* produced a short film about their experience of being lesbian, gay or bisexual in Liverpool. The 18 minute film aimed at 13-19 year olds uses drama, animation, original music and research to present issues around coming out, bullying at school, harassment at work, …
Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2017/11/07/are-we-there-yet-from-homophobia-to-equality/
Nov 05
OPEN TABLE – an ecumenical Christian worship community which offers a warm welcome to people who are: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer / Questioning, Intersex, Asexual (LGBTQIA) and all who seek an inclusive Church – began at St Bride’s Liverpool in June 2008, meeting once a month for a communion service. At the first planning meeting, someone said: ‘Will …
Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2017/11/05/subversive-scandalous-dangerous-take-over-a-reflection-on-the-growth-of-open-table/
Nov 01
On September 11, 2017, sixteen years after the devastating terrorist attack on New York’s World Trade Center, an article appeared online about its first recorded victim, which asked: ‘Could Father Mychal Judge Be the First Gay Saint?’ Father Mychal Judge was a little-known Franciscan friar ministering humbly to the disenfranchised and unloved on the streets of …
Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2017/11/01/writing-the-icon-of-911-remembering-father-mychal-judge/
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