On Walls – A Believe Out Loud Perspective

A stone wall next to a grassy hill.

What is a wall? Often, we hear these days, walls keep people out. Of course, they do much more than that. Walls provide a sense of in and out, of here and there, of us and them. By indicating the end of territory, they define space and enable those within their perimeters to understand themselves…

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Arm Wrestling for Our Lives

A group of birds flying in the sky.

Trigger Warning: Discussion of suicide and depression

As our collective consciousness was recently focused on the themes of depression, suicide and suicide prevention, I wish to express what many of us in our community know: LGBTQ+ people are at an increased risk for dying by suicide. Here’s my story of self-destruction, spiritual obedience and renewal.

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Keep it Simple

Three purple bracelets with the word love period on them.

I believe God empowers each of us to look at the most complicated problems with Divine simplicity. That is the beauty of the dissent written by Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Monday’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 7-2 ruling in Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd., et al v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. Justice…

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12-Year-Olds Can Speak Up Against Injustice Too!

A group of people holding signs on a street.

These days, it’s not every day that a 12-year old brings me to tears. To be honest, I couldn’t tell you that last time I talked to a 12-year old but I’m sure I would have probably chastised the kid for living in a new digital age and not being able to appreciate the wonders…

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Nativity Stories

Two figurines in a nativity scene in front of a bokeh background.

We each have our own “nativity story.” Mine is that it was a difficult birth, a prolonged labor, my mother turned blue, my father told the doctor she needed oxygen, I was born feet first, my legs were crooked and doctors wanted to put braces on them, but my mother resisted, choosing another therapy: massaging…

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Hurricanes, Homosexuals, & Other Culprits of Convenience

A blue car on top of a wrecked house.

Since the intentional misreading of the Sodom and Gomorrah story in Genesis 19 in the Bible where the twin cities were supposedly destroyed because of homosexual depravity, the causes of natural disasters always find ways to be placed on the backs of LGBTQ Americans. We have become an easy, go-to explanation. And, usually by Bible-thumping…

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Black and Brown Make Green

Back in 2010, I was teaching part-time for Operation Understanding, a leadership development program for Black and Jewish high school students in Philadelphia. We did lots of things together. But, the most intense part of that experience was during the summer. We spent the month of July traveling around the country on a bus. We…

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Reconciling United Methodists of Texas Conference Offers Support for Bishop Karen Oliveto

A small white church in the middle of a wooded area.

Reconciling United Methodists of Texas Conference unreservedly supports Bishop Karen Oliveto of the Mountain Sky Area. We pray her episcopacy will be long and fruitful—resulting in many disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. We give thanks for vocal disciples in the Western Jurisdiction nominating, electing, consecrating, and assigning Bishop Oliveto. We…

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A Christian Response To LGBT Teens & Bullying

A woman with rainbow hair sitting in front of a window.

MLP News Please pray for the friends and family of 14-year-old Kenneth James Weishuhn of Primghar, Iowa. Kenneth took his life on Saturday after being bullied for coming out as a gay teen a few months ago. Kenneth’s friends and family describe him as a happy young man, handsome and full of life. After coming…

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