My Windows Are Open!!

My Windows are Open. My Windows Are Open!!!

Years ago, I emerged from my first Chicago winter after six years in Southern California. Having grown up in Chicago and living in NYC, winter was no stranger to me. I knew what I was getting into when I decided which seminary to attend. “But it’s cold in Chicago,” my LA friends said. My only thought was, “You can’t build a life around weather.” Now, don’t get me wrong. I do not like cold. I am also not a huge fan of precipitation. I do love so much of Chicago that I was willing to put up with cold and snow to be a part of it.

On that spring day when it felt safe to open the windows, I celebrated. Warmer temps were arriving! I love having windows open. To be inside and still connected to outside… Say what you will about the safety and comfort of buildings; they do tend to shut us off from the world around us.

Today, in my apartment in NW Connecticut, the windows are open. Fresh air blows through. It carries in the sounds of birds talking with their friends and bees dancing around. As I celebrate the bloom of spring and the promise of summer, I am reflecting on this openness. How will I hold on to some of it when the seasons change again? I want to remember that creation is beautiful all year long. That I am still connected to it when we switch the screens back to storm windows.

As I celebrate the bloom of spring and the promise of summer, I recognize that many folks have the opposite reaction. It’s getting too warm for you. It’s uncomfortable and triggers health issues. Closed windows with air conditioning is better. 

Whatever your relationship with the weather, I hope you know you are a part of this beautiful creation. I hope you can feel that connection. Nurture it. Hold on to it. 

Seasons come and go
In their own time
With no regard for human concerns
Why concern yourself with them?
They will change soon enough

Blessings,
Pastor Tijuana

A Grateful Heart

A Grateful Heart

There is not enough gratitude in the world to describe how I feel about my ordination day. Thank you to everyone who made it so special. It was a day filled with so much love, joy, celebration, and queer resilience. I am beyond blessed to be a pastor in this church and in a time such as the one we are currently living in.

We are a time where hate seems to be the largest voice in the news, on our social media pages, and in all the advertisements that bombard our world. Hate gets a lot of attention and can make us believe that there is more of it than there actually is. I am here to say that the hate is absolutely not the predominate voice in the world, even when it seems to be the loudest one.

Everywhere I look, I see love. I see people showing up for one another again and again. Here in Saint Louis, in both faith-based and secular organizations, I see people carrying a God-sized amount of love for this community. I am continuously in awe of the ways we learn together, grow together, and care for one another. We know that we are better together.

Love is powerful. Love builds communities, sustains movements, heals wounds, and calls us toward justice over and over again. There are far more people committed to love, inclusion, and liberation than we are often led to believe.

I whole heartedly believe that love can be the loudest voice in the room if we choose it. If we remember that it is about what we do that matters! If we remember where to look. If we remember that love is often found in each other. Love will certainly outlast hate. So let us believe in a kind of heaven of earth where love is abundant, because I know it can be true. We can build it together, piece by piece with courage, compassion, and hope. We have always been the ones that we've been waiting for.

With love and solidarity,
Pastor Eli

Below is a poem written in response to the current administrations dangerous conflation of transgender identity, advocacy, and community-building with extremism, violence or terrorism. 

radically pro transgender 

I want to hear trans people laugh and 

Celebrate. I want to call someone 

By their new name and see their face

Fill with delight. I want to bring 

A trans person to the thrift store 

And help them find the clothes 

That they only ever dared to 

Wear behind clothes doors. 

I want to call someone by the

Pronouns that their soul 

Has been longing to hear. 

I want trans people in my churches,

In my classrooms, in my grocery stores. 

I want trans people in nature.

I want trans people in my life. 

I want to shout in the streets 

How much I love trans people

how much each trans person 

I’ve known has taught me something 

About love and beauty and becoming 

How each trans person taught me 

Something I didn’t even know 

That I didn’t know. 

How each trans person gave me language 

To step into a new shape of myself 

I love trans people 

I love how I can look into the eyes 

Of someone who is trans 

And understand there is a different 

kind of knowing 

A different kind of belonging 

A way of being seen and loved

That is beyond words.

I love trans people 

I love trans people 

I love trans people 

And I will never be quiet about it. 

Journeying Together

Early in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus heals Simon Peter’s mother-in-law. Word of this miraculous healing spreads quickly throughout the town, and before the night is over, the house is filled with people seeking healing. According to Mark, “many” were healed. The next morning, long before dawn, Jesus leaves the house to find a solitary place to pray. (Mark 1:32–35)

Sabbatical — a time of renewal — is, in many ways, a time to rise before dawn, to seek a solitary place, and to pray. 

Although the other Gospels tell this story differently, there is something in Mark’s telling that stays with me. Jesus is at the very beginning of his ministry. He performs his first public healing and is immediately inundated with requests. If “many” were healed, what does that mean for the others? 

I wonder if, in the midst of healing, Jesus was also teaching others how to heal. Perhaps not everyone was healed while he was there because others were learning to carry the work forward. Perhaps Jesus knew when it was time to step away — to rest, to reflect on what had happened, and to reconnect in prayer. Perhaps he trusted those whose turn it was to serve, preparing himself for what would come next.

This rhythm of recreation, reflection, and reconnection is the rhythm we will all be invited into this summer. While I am away, you, too, will be invited into renewal through journaling, special events, programs, community dinners, and worship opportunities. In many ways, our journeys this summer will mirror one another.

So I encourage you to take full advantage of the buffet of possibilities before you. Try something new: a different program, a new service opportunity, a different style of worship. Attend a community dinner and get to know someone you haven’t met before. Come to the Restoration & Resistance singing workshop — whether you think you can sing or not! And be sure to mark your calendar for our all-church retreat, September 18–20, when we will gather again to reconnect after this season of renewal.

Though I am not Jesus, and we are not the early disciples, we are still a community whose presence is deeply needed in this world. People are walking through our doors seeking healing, connection, and belonging. People are already among us seeking those same things. And together, we are enough.

With Gratitude For Our Renewal,
Pastor Lauren

Rev. Eli's Ordination Reflection

With my ordination on the horizon, I’ve found myself in a deeply reflective place. I am full of gratitude, love, and awe at the movement of the Spirit in my life. My life looks very different than I once imagined, and I continue to find myself within these new, beautiful, and unfolding shapes of my own becoming. I am deeply grateful to celebrate my ordination during a time of abundance, joy, and community in my life.

If I think about my younger self, I could have never imagined being where I am now. I never would have believed I would be able to serve as a pastor fully as myself; one that queer, trans, quirky, weird, joyful, and wonderful all at once. I did not discover the MCC until the final year of my seminary in 2021, and I did not begin the ordination process until after I graduated. I spent a long time discerning where I was being called to serve faithfully, searching for a denomination where I could show up fully and honestly as who God created me to be. I am endlessly grateful to have found the MCC, a place where it feels like a breath of fresh air. A place where my own spirit can dream, hope, and belong alongside so many others who are searching for something similar. 

It is one of the greatest honors of my life to be ordained within a denomination born from radically queer roots: a denomination that understands spirituality and sexuality as sacred and interconnected gifts from God. I am beyond grateful to belong to a community that dreams, changes, listens, and continues becoming; one that acknowledges we do not always get things right, but is willing to keep learning, growing, and trying again.

As I prepare for ordination, I carry deep gratitude for all the people, communities, mentors, friends, and companions who have helped shape me along the way. Thank you to everyone who has, is, and will continue to journey with me. I hope this service will be not only a celebration of my call to ministry, but also a witness to the beauty of a church where all people are invited to live fully, love deeply, and belong wholly.

With love, gratitude, and hope,
Pastor Eli

National Poetry Month

National Poetry Month 

April means that it is national poetry month!! Poetry to me is a time to slow down, listen closely, and make space for the creative voice within each of us. This month, we have the joy of hosting a poetry writing workshop with the help of Faye. Together, we’ve explored not only the elements of poetry, but also the vulnerability it takes to express and share something honest and personal. Creativity is both a gift and a practice, and its been a blessing to do alongside beloved community.

In our most recent class, we focused on blessings and odes. These are forms of poetry that ask us to pay attention to all that is around us that is worthy of our praise, gratitude, or wonder. It can reminds us that creativity is not just about producing something “good,” but simply about seeing the world with care and intention and highlighting those elements along the way.

In that spirit, we invite you to join us for our Open Mic Night on May 20th at 7 p.m., held at the church and online. Whether you’ve attended our class or are simply curious, you are welcome!! Come to read, to listen, or simply to be present. There is something powerful about gathering to celebrate creativity in all its forms. It reminds us that every voice matters, and that beauty often emerges when we make space for one another. An important part of what it means to be community is celebrating each other and our unique gifts.

As we prepare for our open mic night, you are invited to write your own ode or blessing. This could be to a person, a place, a moment, or even something small and easily overlooked. What might change if we chose to honor the ordinary, as well as the extraordinary?

We close with a blessing by Imtiaz Dharker, whose work beautifully captures struggle and grace and abundance:

Blessing

The skin cracks like a pod.
There never is enough water.
Imagine the drip of it,
the small splash, echo
in a tin mug,
the voice of a kindly god.

Sometimes, the sudden rush
of fortune. The municipal pipe bursts,
silver crashes to the ground
and the flow has found
a roar of tongues. From the huts,
a congregation: every man woman
child for streets around
butts in, with pots,
brass, copper, aluminum,
plastic buckets,
frantic hands,
and naked children
screaming in the liquid sun,
their highlights polished to perfection,
flashing light,
as the blessing sings
over their small bones.

—Imtiaz Dharker

Imtiaz Dharker is a Pakistani-Scottish poet, writer and artist. She lives in London and Mumbai, writes in English. In her poetry she takes on topics such as homeland, freedom and travel in an imaginative and questioning way and points to cultural and geographical conflicts within society and gender politics, which has brought her the 2014 Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry and the Cholmondeley Award.

One of MCCGSL’s core values is social justice.

One of MCCGSL’s core values is social justice. More and more, social justice is critical to achieving our mission, vision, and promotion of human flourishing in our congregation and within our extended communities.

We have done some amazing things with your support, urging, and generative impact and now we are excited to announce that we are formalizing and strengthening that support and impact by adding a Social Justice Team to help us have a stronger voice and bigger impact in our world and our communities. As more people, sister organizations, and community members look toward us to help bend the arc of justice, comes the need to add more "helping hands" to continue the work and grow our impact.  

With excitement and joy, we announce/introduce Julie Hurst who has agreed to serve as the leader of our newly established Social Justice Team! What a blessing to have her lead us in this new endeavor.

Below is a letter from Julie: 

“As a lifelong Christian, I have always embraced a personal mission to live like Jesus and I take that deeply to heart. To me, that means it is crucial to create a world where everyone has what they need to survive and knows they are loved exactly as they are. It is my joy to be part of a congregation which shares this passion.

I am thrilled to join in announcing the official launch of our Social Justice Team. This team will deepen and build on the work we have done and are doing.

Our goal is to move forward with greater intentionality, building a liberating movement both within and beyond our church walls.

The Social Justice Team will begin its work with strategic planning, collaborating closely with church leadership to ensure our efforts align with our broader mission and vision.

Our suggested plan is that each quarter, we will offer educational programming and advocacy opportunities. This may include book studies, movie viewing and discussion, guest speakers, testifying before elected officials, or letter writing campaigns. 

We will work with the pastoral staff to continue to deepen relationships with other community organizations. Prior to election time, the team will host a voter education forum and help folx develop a plan to vote. And through it all we will keep the congregation informed of upcoming social justice opportunities and plans. 

While our long-term vision is to create lasting societal change, we recognize that many in our community need help simply to make it through today. Therefore, we will also coordinate mission and charity programs to provide immediate support. These service projects will allow us to show up for our congregation and neighborhood in tangible and necessary ways.

These are lofty goals, and they require a dedicated team with a shared desire to transform community. 

So, if you are ready to help make MCCGSL and St. Louis a place where all people can thrive -- please sign-up to join the Social Justice Team today (or at least to learn more about our next steps)!”

Creating a Community Where ALL can Flourish, 
Rev. Lauren Bennett and Julie Hurst

All Things New

All Things New

I sense a need for a revival in the Christian church -- not just MCCGSL, but the church as a whole. For too long, violence, bullying, and bigotry have been used by the highest office in our country, passed off as an expression of holiness. Threatening genocide, allowing conversion therapy to continue, and stripping rights of trans people are just some examples of ways Christianity has been used as a front for evil acts. 

The name of God, the name of Jesus, and the practice of The Way has been co-opted by people who invoke their religion to do nothing but oppress, while gaining riches for themselves. Nowhere has this been more apparent than in predominately white Christian churches or people claiming to be Christian, who have clearly never opened a Bible. 

As a Christian pastor, I'm sometimes worried about claiming that place in the world too loudly. I don't want it to seem that I am behind these egregious acts done in my name as a Christian or an American. 

This week, I woke up in the middle of the night convicted that I need to claim my faith in a more evangelical way. If you Google "evangelical" the first things that come up are all about the evangelical movement -- one that claims to "follow the way of Jesus and is focused on scripture-study." The word evangelical comes from the Greek and means "Good news." I think it's time we reclaim this word - to offer Good News in our work, words, and study. Progressive Protestants are well educated in Biblical teachings -- let us claim our part in being well-versed in the Bible. It is time to claim where good news comes from -- in human flourishing, in doing our part to mend creation. 

Friends, it is time to get serious about our faith and claim it's impact on our hearts. To follow the way of Jesus with wide, expansive love and earnestness. To claim who we are in the world. 

Even though I may be hesitant to claim my Christian faith with the way "Christianity" is thrown around to bless hideous behavior, I often end up in long conversations after “coming out” as a Christian minister. Just today when getting a coffee, someone complimented my necklace. I told them about our church, and she said she has never met a pastor before. After saying more about us, she said she might have to come sometime — as we are doing something different than the Christianity depicted in the news — and that IS good news. 

This season, we will be exploring the theme All Things New, examining stories of beginnings, conversation, and fresh starts. How might we use this time to cultivate our hearts and create space for good news? How might be prepare our lives to embody a new way, a fresh perspective, a new Christianity. 

To help enlighten and prepare us, we have two opportunities to join in study and community: 

Join Faye Branum for a poetry writing class. You don’t need to be good at writing! Think of this as an opportunity to open your heart to the seeds growing in you. 

Join Pastor Tijuana for a reading of Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. This book will get you thinking about new seeds that need to be planted through a science fiction perspective.

Whatever you do, may this season be a time of exploration as we claim our role in showing the true side of Christianity -- one of kindness, love, and joy. 

Blessings, 
Pastor Lauren