Happy Thanksgiving from Jesus in Love Blog!

“Home to Thanksgiving” lithograph by Currier and Ives, 1867 (Wikimedia Commons)

Happy Thanksgiving from Kittredge Cherry
and the Jesus in Love Blog!

I am grateful for the many people who read and support my blog on LGBT spirituality with their time, talent and resources. Thank you!

“Give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
          --1 Thessalonians 5:18

Happy Thanksgiving from Jesus in Love Blog!

Happy Thanksgiving from Kittredge Cherry and the Jesus in Love Blog!

I give thanks for the many people who read and support my blog on LGBT spirituality with their time, talent and resources. Thank you!

Today this scripture expresses the song in my soul: “Sing and make music from your heart to God, always giving thanks to the Creator for everything.” (Ephesians 5:19-20)

Let’s celebrate Thanksgiving with an excerpt from “Thanksgiving Rite” by Zalmon Sherwood, published in Equal Rites: Lesbian and Gay Worship, Ceremonies, and Celebrations:


Reader: With the rainbow we celebrate the vibrance and diversity of lesbian and gay pilgrims. We’re everywhere. Every day. And we are forever the pilgrims in this land.

All: Blessed be, blessed be. We’ve always been here. We always will be. Pilgrims in this land.

Reader: As gay and lesbian pilgrims, we believe it is a matter of faith to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves. We believe in recognizing equally and loving all members of the human family, whatever their race, creed, color, gender, sexual orientation, or physical or mental capacity. We believe the Earth, its creatures, and the universe are good, beautiful, and sacred parts of creation that must be protected and cared for. We believe that we are born to accept responsibility, to take a stand on vital issues, and to work to secure freedom, justice, and love for all persons.

All: We believe it is the divine power within us that gives us courage and stamina to face the truth and to live it, even to die for it. Let us go forth, continuing this celebration in the knowledge that we are pilgrims, that hope for a new world is in our hearts, that the struggle for justice is our calling. Let us greet each other with open arms, with heads held high. Grab hold of the future and change the world as pilgrims in this land.
___
This post is part of the LGBT Holidays series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. The series celebrates religious and spiritual holidays, holy days, feast days, festivals, anniversaries, liturgical seasons and other occasions of special interest to LGBT and queer people of faith and our allies.

Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/
Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

Happy Thanksgiving from Jesus in Love Blog!

Happy Thanksgiving from Kittredge Cherry and the Jesus in Love Blog!

I give thanks for the many people who read and support this LGBT spirituality blog with their time, talent and resources. You are the best!

Let’s celebrate Thanksgiving with an excerpt from “Thanksgiving Rite” by Zalmon Sherwood, published in Equal Rites: Lesbian and Gay Worship, Ceremonies, and Celebrations:


Reader: With the rainbow we celebrate the vibrance and diversity of lesbian and gay pilgrims. We’re everywhere. Every day. And we are forever the pilgrims in this land.

All: Blessed be, blessed be. We’ve always been here. We always will be. Pilgrims in this land.

Reader: As gay and lesbian pilgrims, we believe it is a matter of faith to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves. We believe in recognizing equally and loving all members of the human family, whatever their race, creed, color, gender, sexual orientation, or physical or mental capacity. We believe the Earth, its creatures, and the universe are good, beautiful, and sacred parts of creation that must be protected and cared for. We believe that we are born to accept responsibility, to take a stand on vital issues, and to work to secure freedom, justice, and love for all persons.

All: We believe it is the divine power within us that gives us courage and stamina to face the truth and to live it, even to die for it. Let us go forth, continuing this celebration in the knowledge that we are pilgrims, that hope for a new world is in our hearts, that the struggle for justice is our calling. Let us greet each other with open arms, with heads held high. Grab hold of the future and change the world as pilgrims in this land.
_______

Brilliant fall colors show in the photo of turning leaves at the top of the blog today. Artist Trudie Barreras made it into a beautiful watercolor painting.

Trudie will gladly paint YOUR favorite scene -- or a picture of your home. All she asks in return is that you send a gift ($25 suggested) to Kittredge Cherry for Jesus in Love.

Order your favorite scene by Dec. 1 for delivery by Christmas! Her watercolor scenes are done in a 9" x 12" format based on photos that you send. Contact us to order or get more info.

Trudie’s art and writing have appeared frequently here at the Jesus in Love Blog. She is a member of First Metropolitan Community Church of Atlanta. You can see more examples of her art at: http://www.schuylerart.com/art-by-trudie.html

Photo of turning leaves by Karen Matthews Grabill.
____
This post is part of the LGBT Holidays series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. The series celebrates religious and spiritual holidays, holy days, feast days, festivals, anniversaries, liturgical seasons and other occasions of special interest to LGBT and queer people of faith and our allies.

We are GLBT pilgrims

Gay pilgrims by BetterOffGay

We celebrate Thanksgiving with an excerpt from “Thanksgiving Rite” by Zalmon Sherwood, published in Equal Rites: Lesbian and Gay Worship, Ceremonies, and Celebrations: Reader: With the rainbow we celebrate the vibrance and diversity of lesbian and gay pilgrims. We’re everywhere. Every day. And we are forever the pilgrims in this land. All: Blessed be, blessed be. We’ve always been here. We always will be. Pilgrims in this land. Reader: As gay and lesbian pilgrims, we believe it is a matter of faith to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves. We believe in recognizing equally and loving all members of the human family, whatever their race, creed, color, gender, sexual orientation, or physical or mental capacity. We believe the Earth, its creatures, and the universe are good, beautiful, and sacred parts of creation that must be protected and cared for. We believe that we are born to accept responsibility, to take a stand on vital issues, and to work to secure freedom, justice, and love for all persons. All: We believe it is the divine power within us that gives us courage and stamina to face the truth and to live it, even to die for it. Let us go forth, continuing this celebration in the knowledge that we are pilgrims, that hope for a new world is in our hearts, that the struggle for justice is our calling. Let us greet each other with open arms, with heads held high. Grab hold of the future and change the world as pilgrims in this land. ________ Zalmon Sherwood is an Episcopal priest and author of “Kairos: Confessions of a Gay Priest.”

Thanksgiving tribute to straight allies

A “No on Prop 8” yard sign quotes Jesus: “Love thy neighbor”

[Editor’s note: The following Thanksgiving reflection was originally written by a lesbian as a thank-you letter to her neighborhood association in California after the Nov. 4 election. The author wishes to remain anonymous.] Thank you to all our straight neighbors, allies and friends who put up yard signs, made phone calls and supported the huge lesbian and gay civil rights movement to make marriage for our people legal in the State of California. I loved those NO ON 8 SIGNS!! I know not everyone here supports gay or lesbian marriage, but speaking as a person who has been with my partner for 33 years, it is a real issue for real people. I remember the days when there were no straight people at any of our events, and certainly for decades straight people wanted nothing to do with us. Now something amazing has changed, and I feel proud of our little neighborhood where people literally put signs in the yards that I felt personally supported me. I smile every time I drive by all your houses now because I remember where all the signs were. And some are still up long after the election. In time, even the most hardened bigots will do what all social change activists advocate -- get to know the people you think are bad PERSONALLY. Come on over for coffee, and don't listen to the lies of people who call themselves Christians, but seemingly have so little knowledge of how Jesus really lived his life. Thanks again! And be sure to look on the Internet for the protests we're having all over the city. Civil rights takes generations sometimes, and real social change doesn't occur over night, but we sure made a good showing. I would say that we in our neighborhood have become a shining city on a hill -- just like the Pilgrims envisioned as they sailed over on the Mayflower (Thanksgiving is coming soon :-). Happy Thanksgiving!

Another real-life yard sign from a California neighborhood

November sunlight shines on more election signs of the times

Jesus and Buddha on giving thanks

With the Thanksgiving holiday approaching, I wondered what the great spiritual teachers such as Jesus and Buddha said about gratitude and giving thanks.

The answer: Not much.

Today’s popular wisdom urges people to “count your blessings,” a technique that never helped me much when I was down. Ignoring painful realities felt like denial, not healing.

Jesus and Buddha both seemed to take a different approach. Buddha spoke of the Middle Way, where people could be free from both desire and aversion, no longer caught up in seeking and counting blessings.

Jesus himself often gave thanks to God. Otherwise he called attention to the behavior that he witnessed. For example, he healed ten lepers, including one Samaritan, a member of a despised ethnic group, perhaps similar to queer people today. Only one, the Samaritan, bothered to say thanks.

Jesus spoke to the bystanders. “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”

To the leper he said, “Your faith has made you well.” (Luke 17:17-19)

Can’t relate to lepers? When I used a voice-recognition program to type the above scripture, it changed “clean” to “lean.” I smile when I imagine ten fat people made lean, a type of healing that’s much more familiar in America today.

Jesus seems to equate gratitude with faith. It’s an act of faith to give thanks as we navigate life’s vicissitudes, which Buddha identified as pleasure and pain, gain and loss, praise and blame, fame and dispute.

I’m grateful for the chance to try to walk the Middle Way with an attitude of gratitude this Thanksgiving Day. I also thank the people who build community by reading and commenting on this blog.

My two favorite resources on Buddhism are Insight Meditation by Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein and Lovingkindness by Sharon Salzberg.