My Journey Back Into The Church . . .

I have to admit that I am not a listener to bands / groups that identify themselves as “Christian”.  I’m not comfortable with the word “Christian” being used as an adjective more than a verb because it is too easy for faith or belief to be a consumer product.  That is a blog for another day.  My thanks to a friend, Katy McFall, for posting this article on her Facebook page.  I may have to listen to Jennifer Knapp’s music given her openness in this article.

My Journey Back Into The Church As A Gay Christian
by Jennifer Knapp | Believe Out Loud | 2/10/12

From the moment I began to acknowledge my connection to women, many of my Christian friends began to immediately critique my spiritual standing. The conclusions always jumped to my lack of self-control, some failure of mine to “respond to the Holy Spirit” or that I was willfully sinful, headstrong and purposed to throw out my concern for pleasing God. The thought of my spiritual mentors and evangelical friends always ended with the conclusion that something was horribly wrong with me.

In 2010, I publicly disclosed that I was in a same-sex relationship. Under heavy scrutiny, I maintained that I still considered myself a person of faith. I received terrible emails and letters. I was deleted from thousands of iPods and dropped from Christian retailers and radio stations. Although a painful experience, I was aware that this scenario was on the horizon. But what I didn’t expect was how my inbox began to fill up with stories from other people just like me.  I was not alone. I was not the only person in the world that was being silenced by their very own faith community.  Click here to read more.