Resources for Celebrating Pride Month
Last week, the partnership hosted an online Pride Sunday vigil. The following resources may be useful for congregations wishing to host their own services during Pride Month.
Liturgical Resources
Pride Sunday sermon by the Rev. Canon Cathy Dempesy-Sims
“The Welcoming Prayer” Attributed to Father Thomas Keating
Welcome, welcome, welcome. I welcome everything that comes to me today, because I know it’s for my healing. I welcome all thoughts, feelings, emotions, persons, situations, and conditions. I let go of my desire for power and control. I let go of my desire for affection, esteem, approval, and pleasure. I let go of my desire for survival and security. I let go of my desire to change any situation, condition, person or myself. I open to the love and presence of God and God’s action within. Amen.
Incarnational Beatitudes
Blessed are the homeless and those who beg for spare change, for they will inherit the house of the Lord.
Blessed are the black mothers who lament the deaths of their sons at the hands of the state, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and pansexual individuals who reflect the very image of God, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are the undocumented workers whose labors are hard and whose fear of deportation is real every day, for they will produce many fruits to sustain the kin-dom of Heaven.
Blessed are the marchers who put their lives on the line, putting their faith in action, and demanding mercy for all, for they, too, will receive mercy.
Blessed are the disenfranchised children of Flint, Michigan; of the South Side of Chicago; of the boroughs of New York; of Aleppo and Syria; of Haiti; of Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, and all of Africa; and of [insert current city here], for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers as named by Martin Luther King, Jr. who continue to strive in making his dream a reality, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are our Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, and First Nation siblings, and all other siblings of differing faiths, who do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with their god, for theirs is the kin-dom of heaven.
Blessed are those who are detained, deported, and unjustly held on account of showing radical love and grace to a world filled with violence and hate, for their reward is great in heaven.
About the Author: Nicole Anderson
Rev. Nicole Anderson is a United Methodist pastor serving a church in Vermillion, South Dakota.
Call to Worship
(written by Kimi Floyd Reisch, ONA Program Minister, UCC Open and Affirming Coalition)
Compiled for Pride Sunday, 2021 by Pastor Lori Keller Burns, Kenilworth UCC.
We come today, representing all the majesty of creation
Diverse and beautiful, blessed and beloved, all made in the image of the Creator of all things
We come today, called to this time and this place by an infinite God.
Who hears our cries and responds with love and mercy.
We come today: Transgender, Nonbinary, Bisexual, Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Intersex, Gay, Queer, Ally
We come today, knowing you will listen and answer our needs.
We come today to deliver our joined prayers of hope.
We come today, a people mourning still our losses, still recovering from the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic and the pandemic of institutionalized racism that has plagued our world for too many centuries.
We come today, knowing you care for us
We come today, knowing that even when others reject us, your arms are open to offer comfort. We come. Declaring the Sanctity of Life and the Dignity of All
Nineteen ecumenical and interfaith religious leaders from around the world have come together to form the Global Interfaith Commission on LGBT+ Lives. The Commission has prepared a declaration calling for an end to violence and criminalization against LGBT+ people and for a global ban on conversion therapy: “Declaring the Sanctity of Life and the Dignity of All.” Watch the video https://youtu.be/NYJJgN_mEyc Individuals and representatives from religious communities are invited to sign the declaration at https://globalinterfaith.lgbt/
Scripture Readings: Acts 8:26-39 & Romans 8:31-39
Prayer of Confession
(From the More Light Presbyterians Retreat & Mission Weekend in New Orleans, 2006, shared by the Institute for Welcoming Resources of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force)
Compiled for Pride Sunday, 2021 by Pastor Lori Keller Burns, Kenilworth UCC
Prayer of Confession
Let us confess our sin before God and one another …
silent confession
God, who made me in Your image, teach me to love myself as You love me.
God, who made me in Your image, allow me to show that image to the world.
God who made me in Your image, help me to see Your image in all those I meet.
God, who made me in Your image, teach me to conserve and protect all Your creation.
God, who made me in Your image, bless, protect, and keep me and all Your children safe.
Assurance of Pardon (From the More Light Presbyterians Retreat & Mission Weekend, 2006)
Compiled for Pride Sunday, 2021 by Pastor Lori Keller Burns, Kenilworth UCC
Assurance of Pardon:
The One who breathed life into our lungs continues to be present with us. God, who has made us reflective of God’s own image, has forgiven us all and made us new creations. Therefore, since our sins are forgiven, to let us go forth with love and peace, honoring and upholding the dignity of all we meet, knowing we see reflections of God’s image all around.
Thanks be to God! Amen.
Additional Resources:
- The Episcopal Church: LGBTQ in the Church
- FAQs About Jesus, the Bible & LGBTQ+ People from “An Inch at a Time: Reflections on the Journey” by Susan Russell
- Trevor Project – intervention and suicide prevention for LGBTQ+ Youth “You are not alone.”
- https://www.thetrevorproject.org/
- 1-866-488-7386[
- It Gets Better Project
- Reconciling Works (Lutheran)
- Reconciling Ministries Network (United Methodist)
- Believe Out Loud
- Open and Affirming Coalition (UCC)
- Dignity USA (Catholic)
- LGBT Resources , The African American Lectionary –
