This Sunday will mark the second anniversary of our church’s membership in the Reconciling Ministries Network, a worldwide organization that stands in solidarity with open doors towards people of all sexual orientations and gender identities. Ours is one of two United Methodist Churches who are an official part of this movement at this time.

The last two years have been a time of great pride for me in being able to serve a church that lives out the slogan, “Open hearts, open minds, open doors” in such a tangible and brave way. I am proud to serve a church that works hard to establish a community that is free of persecution and discrimination against those who might find persecution and discrimination elsewhere. As we have traveled this journey, we have all worked hard to discern exactly what we are called to do and exactly how we can make our doors of welcome wider and wider and wider as time moves on.

We will celebrate our monthly service of Holy Communion, and our sermon time will feature messages from three individuals who would like to share part of their spiritual journeys and how their faith has been shaped by participation in St. Stephen’s as a faith community. I urge you to make plans to attend either the 8:30 or 10:50 service this week in order to support these three speakers from our fold and to learn a little bit more about what Reconciling Ministries and the Believe Out Loud campaign is all about.