LGBT Pride Prayer: We Recommit Ourselves to God

“GLBT Heritage” stained glass window at Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco. Designed by Ken Scott, 1993

The triangle made of fabric serves as a visual and tactile symbol of our brokenness and connectedness as a church. World War II concentration camp prisoners identified as homosexuals, the “third sex,” were forced to wear the triangle. Like the cross, the triangle once symbolized oppression and now symbolizes liberation. Today we recommit ourselves to liberating our church to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people everywhere.
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This prayer appears in “Equal Rites: Lesbian and Gay Worship, Ceremonies, and Celebrations. It comes from “A Service of Worship and Empowerment,” a collaborative liturgy that was celebrated in more than 50 communities across the Presbyterian Church (USA) in 1993 in solidarity with the commissioning as evangelist of lesbian minister Rev. Jane Spahr by Downtown United Presbyterian Church in Rochester, NY.
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June is Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month. A new LGBT pride prayer will be posted here every Sunday in June. Click here for the whole series.
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About the image: A pink triangle with two incomplete overlapping circles represents a couple whose relationship is not restricted by gender in “GLBT Heritage,” one of 12 stained glass windows designed by Honolulu artist Ken Scott for MCC San Francisco. This window was donated by Lloyd Burton and Michael Berry in memory of our gay brothers and lesbian sisters who have gone before us.

The 12-window project is called “Heavenly Wind” and is an abstraction representing God's breath flowing through the sanctuary and congregation. Each pair of windows incorporates a color from the rainbow which is a symbol of pride, unity, and celebration in the LGBT Communities. A service of dedication was held in the MCC-SF sanctuary on Nov. 21, 1993. Click here for an online gallery of MCC-SF’s stained glass windows. Special thanks to Lynn Jordan of MCC-SF for background info on the windows.