Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The Impact one church can have

Tonight at the 7pm service we gave thanks for Will, who grew up at SPOTH, as we also prayed for all who fight discrimination.

Checkout Will's blog about the events of yesterday http://yearnsandgroans.blogspot.com/2009/05/testifying-to-love-why-i-was-arrested.html

Here is the first part of what Will wrote:

Testifying to Love - Why I was arrested

I grew up in a small Episcopal Church in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley where that tiny mid-century A-frame building on a hill and its odd mixture of congregants became for me as a gay person an oasis of encouragement, love, and support. When most other churches were campaigning for prayer in schools, we were learning about what we could do to end apartheid in South Africa, other churches encouraged their flock to listen to James Dobson while we were invited to listen to the words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. There at St. Paul's on-the-Hill, as a young acolyte I first heard about how faith compels us to stand with those pushed to the margins, and to work for justice. Yesterday was not the first time I’ve been arrested seeking to bear witness to a faith that calls us to honor the dignity of every person --- it is not likely to be my last.