Mass Shooting – Chinook

Club Q and Safe Space: Reflections from a Queer Minister

Posted on November 23, 2022 by GPNW2020

“…I’m so sorry to learn of the Colorado Springs shooting. There are just no words anymore…”

This was the text I received on Sunday Morning from our Mission Center President Kim Naten. You see, I was at the Beyond Horizons Retreat at Lewis River Campground where cell reception is spotty. So, I had not yet heard the news about the mass shooting at Club Q, a queer nightclub, in Colorado Springs. This was another targeted attack on the LGBTQIA+ community and furthermore, it took place on the weekend preceding Transgender Day of Remembrance (November 20). On this day, we “honor the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence.” (https://www.glaad.org/tdor) This attack happened in what should have been a safe space for the community.

Let’s back up for a moment though. This past weekend, 18 of us gathered for our inaugural Beyond Horizons Retreat. This retreat had been delayed three times already due to COVID-19. While present together at the retreat we lived the theme of “Chosen Family: A Place at the Table” through storytelling, laughter, and moments of blessing. We decorated pride cookies and shared in a Friendsgiving meal together. Then just before our closing Communion Service, I received the news about the mass shooting.

*Beyond Horizons 2022 Retreat Group Photo*

The Beyond Horizons Retreat was a safe space for the LGBTQIA+ community as well as the allies who journey alongside us. It was an example of what our sanctuaries should be, both the physical sanctuaries in our congregation buildings as well as the sanctuary that is created through mutual respecting relationships. Those who attended were free to be themselves and express that in the way that was natural and authentic for them. What a gift that was and could continue to be.

In times like this, I am reminded of the need for our congregations and new expressions of community to continue the work towards being open and affirming welcoming communities. It is not enough to just be “nice and kind” people anymore. We must continue the work to look within and confront our biases and allow the Holy Spirit to shape us as we live into new ways of going beyond the horizon to which we are sent. And while this work is important for us to do for all marginalized communities, the LGBTQIA+ community has been specifically targeted by those claiming to represent Christ.

Currently, Salem and Crystal Springs Congregations are the only congregations who have done the work with Harmony to become an official Welcoming & Affirming Congregation in our mission center. Harmony is the non-profit organization that, “provides advocacy, education, and resources for Queer voices in Community of Christ with a shared vision of full participation.” To learn more about their “Welcoming & Affirming Congregation” program, click here: https://www.harmony.lgbt/waprogram.html. I encourage your community to consider participating in this program.

There have been many times over the past few days that I have found myself in tears. Knowing that you are part of a community targeted by others, is an exhausting place to be in. Knowing that some want you dead just because of who you are, is an exhausting place to be in. And, if I’m being honest, being a full-time minister in a religion that is expressed in ways that fuels murderers to commit their heinous acts, is an exhausting place to be in.

I am grateful to have been raised in, serve in, and be a member of, a denomination that I believe does not express Christianity in that way, but this doesn’t mean that we don’t still have a lot of work to do. I invite… no, I plead… to our members, friends, congregations, and new expressions of community to explore ways that ensure that our communities are safe spaces for all marginalized communities. And to not only provide safe space but to also actively participate in helping transform our schools, places of employment, and neighborhoods into being more welcoming and inclusive as well. Some of our lives depend on it. The lives of people you love depend on it. Maybe even more so than you realize. If you need a face to put to this reality, use mine.

We cannot continue to sing “For everyone born, a place at the table.” or “may our hearts and minds be opened, fling the church doors open wide. May there be room enough for everyone inside. For in God there is a welcome, in God we all belong. May that welcome be our song.” unless we are willing to do the work to make these hymns a reality in our Community of Christ spaces. We have come far. Let’s continue going the distance.

A note from Sean: I know that reading the word “queer” in a positive way might be new for some as it is a term that historically has been used to oppress those in the LGBTQIA+ community. Even I have struggled with claiming this term for myself. To do so, is new for me. I think this note from Harmony might be helpful: “The term Queer is being reclaimed by some who identify as LGBTQ+ and is used as an umbrella term for the LGBTQ+ community. We use the phrase “Queer voices” to describe all persons, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity (SOGI), who have the courage to use their voice to speak for justice for the marginalized in the Queer community.”

Statement on the Club Q Shooting in Colorado Springs

Posted on November 22, 2022 by GPNW2020

Statement from Harmony released November 21, 2022. Click Here.

Following Saturday’s deadly shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs that left at least five dead and 25 injured, the members of Harmony’s Board of Directors offer their deepest condolences to the families, chosen families, and friends of all those who were targeted. In the wake of yet another deadly attack on innocent, precious members of the Queer/2SLGBTQIA+ Community, we find comfort in the teachings of Jesus Christ who modelled and taught the importance of justice, peace, and healing as a call to action – not through “thoughts and prayers” alone.

The hymn When the Darkness Overwhelms Us (CCS #314) reminds us of this calling in each verse. A particularly compelling and timely line is verse 3:

When in weary isolation
We’ve lost our courage to care,
When our captive spirits perish
In the bondage of despair,
Free our arms for action
Reaching for another’s hand,
Free our feet for marching
or move to boldly make a stand.

May the One who calls us to this holy work place their spirit of reassurance upon us to encourage us as their hands and feet to realize our potential as justice seekers, peace makers, and community builders.

Your Harmony Board of Directors

Note: Special thanks to our partners at Beyond the Walls for providing the beautiful music to many of our hymns. You can click the play button below to view/hear the full hymn recorded by the Beyond the Walls Choir.

CALLED TO DO . . . . . SOMETHING

Posted on May 27, 2022 by GPNW2020

By Kim Naten

It’s Friday morning . . . and while the calendar says “late Spring” the sky reflects anything but that. It is gray, chilly, momentarily dry, and an accurate reflection of my mood. This has been a tough week. Or rather, a tough several weeks. Buffalo, Laguna Woods, now Uvalde. On top of ongoing concern, sadness and rage over the war in Ukraine, the continued erosion of human rights, and on and on . . .

Often, I turn to our musical scriptures for comfort, for the words to express all those emotions bubbling to the surface. This week was no exception, and I found many that seemed to accurately reflect my grief, my anxiety, my plea for God to hear our voices, to DO something, to heal us. When I opened my daily Sojourners Verse & Voice email, however, I found the words that felt right. It spoke the words which I’d been trying to formulate without rage and anger, but with a reminder to myself, to those of us in Community of Christ, of who we are called to be. Because honestly, most of the words and feelings I’ve had this week have been, let’s say, less than “Christlike.”

As I read and reread these lyrics, my heart started to lift . . . just a wee bit. I hope it lifts yours as well. As per the annotation at the end, feel free to use this in your worship gatherings. Perhaps it will bring a glimmer of hope to you and others during these dark days as we struggle to understand a broken world, and our call to aid in its healing.

A HYMN FOR PEOPLE CALLED TO DO MORE THAN SING AND PRAY

BY CAROLYN WINFREY GILLETTE

Originally published MAY 25, 2022.

God, Our Nation Feels the Loss

PILOT 7.7.7.7.7 (“Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me”)

God, our nation feels the loss
as our children pay the cost
for the violence we accept,
for the silence we have kept.
Rachel weeps for children gone;
God of love, this can’t go on!

Jesus, Lord, we hear you say,
“Don’t turn little ones away!”
May we build a kinder land
where our children understand:
Every child here matters more
than the guns we clamor for.

Holy Spirit, wind and flame,
send us out in Jesus’ name.
May we shout and say, “Enough!”
May we build a world of love —
till the sounds of weapons cease,
till our young can grow in peace.

Tune: John Edgar Gould, 1871. Text: Copyright © 2022 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. All rights reserved. Permission is given for free use of this hymn for churches and ecumenical services.

Author’s Note: See the reference to the Slaughter of the Innocents: “A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more” (Matthew 2:18). This hymn was written in remembrance of the beloved children of God who died in the school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Many of us, as individuals, do not accept violence, keep silence, or clamor for guns. Yet, as a nation, we do these things, and as a nation, we need to repent; we need to turn around and live a different way. All of us are called to do more than sing and pray; please work for gun safety laws in your community and state.