We Believe in Fairies!
Thirty-five years after Rev. Steve Pieters was interviewed by Tammy Faye Bakker on Praise the Lord’s Tammy’s House Party, Steve spoke with queer journalist Evan Brechtel, saying:
“It’s a shame that we still have to fight the fight. It seems like religious bigotry is so...I can’t think of the right word. It’s promulgated by fundamentalists and conservative churches. Hatred seems to be part of the discourse going on today...and I think a lot of it is because of conservative religious institutions that continue to promulgate that LGBT people are less than heterosexuals.”
In 2022, former Kentucky County Clerk, Kim Davis was sued after refusing to issue a marriage license to a gay couple, citing her religious beliefs as the reason she would not grant the license. She lost the case and was ordered to pay $100,000. Now, she has sued, and her case may be taken to the Supreme Court for consideration this fall. This is the furthest a challenge to the 2015 Obergefell ruling that granted Nationwide access to marriage for same-gender-loving couples.
It is a shame we still have to fight the fight, and perhaps it’s most shameful that the church is in the middle of the argument.
As we work for a world where everyone can flourish, we look to our faith tradition that reminds us we are all created in the image of God. This same God is known in Jesus’s example of practicing a preferential option for the material poor and poor in Spirit, so that we can know love from the inside out.
This week, as we look around us, within us, and across our world, let us look for miracles as often as we are left breathless with despair. Let us remember our Saint, Rev. Steve Pieters who taught us to believe in miracles and reminded us to follow fairies who point us toward making the impossible possible.
If you need some inspiration and want to see courage in action, here is a link to Steve’s full interview with Tammy Faye: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjXXdQ6VceQ&t=3s
Mindful of the Miracles,
Pastor Lauren
Photo is of Rev. Steve with his fairy want at MCCGSL