The morning of Nov. 17, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will offer its first-ever denominational worship service commemorating the Transgender Day of Remembrance.
As the Rev. Shanea D. Leonard began to talk about radical welcome from Montreat Conference Center, they put on an apron and began to reflect on childhood holidays.
When it comes to church, the Rev. Shanea B. Leonard knows what it’s like to feel like an outsider looking in. But Leonard also knows what it’s like to sit in a place of welcome and inclusion.
Next time you see someone pull their car over, get out and start dancing to a favorite song on their radio or phone, give Makani Themba some credit. It was her idea, as expressed Saturday during the Presbyterian Week of Action’s webinar on Black Lives Matter entitled “Liberation Now!” Watch the 69-minute webinar here.
When the last edition of the “Well Chosen Words” guide to inclusive language came out in 2010, “brothers and sisters” were listed as “Words that include,” and preferable to the commonly used “brothers” and “brotherhood,” which were listed as “Words that exclude.”
When the Rev. Victor H. Floyd traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border with a group from Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco, he was prepared to encounter a lot of pain in refugees they would meet in U.S. detention facilities and migrant shelters in Tijuana.
He wasn’t prepared for Petter.
Not one day goes by that I am not misgendered in some way.
Sometimes it is intentional. Most often it is just a mistake. Either way, it is a micro-aggression that I have learned will probably be a part of my journey for the rest of my life.
