Dear Friends,
Pride Sunday has become one of the great celebrations for our congregation.
It’s not only a celebration of the LGBTQ+ members in our parish, but an affirmation of our identity as a radically welcoming church for all people. It’s a celebration of our commitment to build a faith community offering a safe place for difference. I believe our Pride celebrations are simply extensions of Christ’s imperative to love our neighbors as ourselves.
When I attended seminary in the early 1990’s, I remember the fear my gay classmates felt related to their identity. In those days, being open about being gay meant they could be expelled from the seminary and dismissed from the ordination process. I’ll never forget the risk a classmate took when he came out to me. I felt honored by his trust, but I also felt his deep frustration in feeling he was forced to lie in order to serve the church. Once you know someone who has been personally affected by prejudice and bigotry, you never see those issues in the same light again.
I participated in my first Pride March not long after I came to St. Bart’s and was completely surprised by the effect it had on me. Thousands of people were cheering for our group from St. Bart’s (along with other representatives from churches in the Episcopal Diocese of New York.) I was asked to pray for dozens of people along the route and to bless them. When I saw the tears in people’s eyes, I realized how important it was for them to feel acceptance from a representative of a mainline Christian church. I realized how important it was for St. Bart’s to be present.
Pride March Scenes
Photos by Tim Martin and Kara Flannery
Former President Barack Obama wrote, “When all Americans are treated as equal, no matter who they are or whom they love, we are all more free.” We celebrate Pride Sunday because championing equality makes us all just a little bit more free; free to love whom we chose; free to follow Christ as we are called; and free to be precisely who God created us to be.
I’m delighted to be joined this Pride Sunday by The Right Reverend Deon Johnson, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri, who will preach at the Sunday 9 am and 11 am services, and speak at The Forum at 10 am, and by our new Bishop Coadjutor, The Right Reverend Matthew Heyd, who will preside at the 11:00 am service. Both bishops will be present for the LGBTQ+ BBQ and will join the contingent of marchers from St. Bart’s in the New York City Pride March later on Sunday afternoon.
Happy Pride,
The Right Reverend Dean E. Wolfe, D.D.
Rector