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Reading Scripture with Pride

  • Unitarian Universalist Congregation 67 Church Street Montclair, NJ, 07042 United States (map)

On Tuesday, June 7, 7PM, at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair, 67 Church Street, a group of Interfaith Clergy and Laity will present “Reading Scripture with Pride.” We will hear from LGBTQ people of faith on their experiences, and clergy will each reflect on why Sacred Scriptures should not be weaponized against LGBTQ people. Reception to follow.

This event is co-sponsored by the Montclair Interfaith Clergy Association.

Space is limited, so please RSVP to this free event.

For those unable to attend in person, please join us at the Livestream:

https://zoom.us/j/94156362462?pwd=NGRhNzdrNHJUTkxiM0hWL1Q3MzBuQT09

Meeting ID: 941 5636 2462

Passcode: UUCM

The Jewish people approach the Torah, their Scripture (also called the Hebrew Bible), from many different perspectives, whether because they align as differing ideological groups and denominations, or simply because, as Jews, they acknowledge the rich complexity of the Torah’s history and words. Many Jews see Torah as sanctified by history. Others hear God’s Voice speaking through its words. We are called to hear the challenging words of the Torah and make sense of them. All non-Orthodox denominations of Judaism have long accepted the equal sanctity of each person and of any sexual orientation. Sexuality is a Divine gift, to be lived with that sense.

Congregation Shomrei Emunah, a member synagogue of the Conservative Movement, has long proclaimed its embrace of everyone in the LGBTQ community and beyond. In 2016 we adopted a new translation of the verses in Leviticus that have been read for so long as a condemnation of homosexual acts. This new translation is faithful to the original Hebrew words, and yet reads the verse in a totally different way. We have printed this new translation and placed it into our volumes of Torah and prayers, so that this new version is recognized as our official understanding of what God asks of us. Thus, in our Torah, whose words are identical with every Torah scroll used everywhere in the world, there is not a word to be found that stigmatizes anyone for identifying as LGBTQ and for seeking to live a full and loving life that is true to themselves. In the same spirit, we are grateful to be able to find a path that allows us to read the Torah in a way that is true to God’s Voice and true to ourselves.

 
 

Union Congregational Church is proud to be an Open Affirming Congregation, a designation our denomination describes as a public covenant of welcome to persons of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions into the full life and ministry of our church. We are proud to be part of the United Church of Christ, the first mainline Christian denomination to ordain a gay person, the 50th anniversary of which we will celebrate this year. Too often LGBTQ+ people are harmed by churches that either openly condemn their humanity and capacity to love, or claim that “all are welcome” while teaching and preaching something else.

 

I was lucky enough as a young person to be raised in a UCC church with openly gay pastors and which proudly proclaimed their Open and Affirming stance. It meant something to me to choose to go to church one Sunday as a teenager while Fred Phelps and his hate group was outside protesting us. These formative events in my life of faith made me realize what was at stake when we read, preach and teach about our sacred texts. In our church, we take Jesus’ teachings too seriously to take the Bible literally.

Unitarian Universalist scholars and theologians since the 1950's began embracing the latest, learned Biblical scholarship suggesting that the Bible should not be used to claim any divine sanction against LGBTQ people. Since the 1960's Unitarian Universalism began striving to honor and affirm the full rights and dignity of LGBTQ people, with mixed results. And although it was initially difficult to get LGBTQ ministers settled in congregations, the UUA has ordained LGBTQ clergy since the early 1970's, with the first openly gay ministers called to major pulpits in San Francisco, CA and Augusta, ME in 1979. Here is a link to a brief outline of UUA history regarding LGBTQ issues: https://www.uua.org/files/documents/lgbtq/history.pdf

Rev Scott Sammler-Michael (he, him) engages the work of biblical interpretation as an act of liberation and care, for LGBTQ people and for all peoples marginalized and oppressed. Rev Scott reminds us that the Bible is not only a religious text but also a cultural document belonging to all people. Biblical interpretation is tricky and elusive, requiring special training in languages, theology, history and more. As an ancient "book of books," edited and translated throughout the ages, the Bible should never be deployed as a weapon against LGBTQ (or any) people. Indeed, the Bible itself says nothing about loving relationships among LGBTQ people. People who abuse the Bible and Religious traditions to shame and exclude LGBTQ people are misguided at best; at worst they are fomenters of violence and apartheid. Rev. Scott teaches, "Anyone searching their Bibles to see if God hates the same people they hate need instead to search their hearts and understand that the impulse to hate is the farthest thing from holy. The Bible in no way confirms such bigotry, and to proclaim so is not only wrong but wicked, only adding more hatred to our social fabric. Such misguided infamy must be resisted with intellectual vigor, persistence and courage."

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Drag Variety Show

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Drag Queens & Doughnuts