1st Anniversary of Being Affirming - November 21, 2021
Psalm 139:1-18
Deborah Laforet
God’s Love
Today, we’re going to hear the first eighteen verses of psalm 139, possibly one of my favourite passages in the bible. When I hear or read psalm 139, I hear a god who knows me, who deeply knows me. Who looks beyond my mask, who looks beyond what I hide from others, who looks beyond the shameful secrets, the brokenness and hurt, and the trauma, and is with me, never abandoning me, despite my own feelings of inadequacy or being undeserving.
No matter where I go in this world, and no matter what I do, bad or good, this Holy Mystery, this all-encompassing Spirit, this ever-present God, will never abandon me, and will always love me.
One of the more famous phrases from this passage is, “For I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” I like to say, ‘awesomely and wonderfully made.” We are knitted in the womb, never far from the sacred, even, dare I say it, being sacred ourselves.
As a Christian community, as a community of faith, we learn that this is how God loves us, AND that this is the love that needs to be shared with others. We turn away from the harmful messages of our world that tell us that we are less loved based on the colour of our skin, or less loved based on our economic or immigration status, less loved because of our criminal record, or less loved if we have sexual feelings toward the same gender or if we discover that our body does not match our gender identity. We are fed these messages by our culture. Sometimes we internalize them and feel shamed and unloved or put this shame and hate onto others. As Christians, it’s our job to spread God’s love to all people, combatting these messages that make people feel less than others, less deserving, less accepted, less loved.
As an Affirming congregation, this is what we have committed to doing. Last year, we voted to becoming an Affirming ministry and we voted to create this vision:
"a safe and inclusive faith community for people of all gender identities, sexual orientations, marital status, family configuration, abilities, ages, races, ethnicities, faiths, and socio-economic circumstances, [and that all may] participate fully in all aspects of the life and work of our ministry, thereby enriching us all.”
In other words, that the love of God, as described in Psalm 139, that deeply knows us and loves us, wholly and completely and always and everywhere, be exactly what we share with others. We won’t be perfect and we will make mistakes, but as an Affirming church, it means we will try. We will love all people, not despite what challenges us, but wholly and completely. Our mission is to determine how we do that, not just with those who walk in the doors, but all those in our community.
But that’s enough from me. You’re going to hear from four people in our community who are going to share their thoughts on being an affirming church. You’ll hear from the chair of our council, from one who has been a part of this community for many years and one who joined us in the past year and half, and one of our young people.