The Church that Wants Me

Church along our walk in Cabbagetown,

a neighborhood of Atlanta.

“In your dreams,” you might be saying in response to this post’s title. And that’s exactly where I found it: in my dreams.

The morning I write this I awoke from a warm and friendly dream of being “courted” by a small but vibrant congregation who wanted me as their pastor.

Many of the churches I have been a part of throughout my life, either as member or minister, have been troubled. Three challenging congregations “in transition” as they say, had attributes that made me love them, but to counter their darker sides with humor, I associated them, more or less privately, with classic films or a television series.

In one I saw parallels to director George Cukor’s 1939 comedy-drama, The Women, based on a Clare Boothe play—a film filled with gossip, rivalries, jealousies, sniping, betrayals, as well as fierce loyalties.

Serving a congregation in which I followed an extremely popular pastor, I felt like the second and less attractive and stylish and poised wife of Laurence Olivier in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (1940), Daphne du Maurier’s Gothic tale, replete with mystery, dark secrets, homoerotic longings, and nostalgia for a lost grand past.

Another church was so full of surprises that I saw a parallel to a TV series I was watching at the time, 24 (starring Kiefer Sutherland), a series with continual twists and turns and revelations.  As with the series, each week in this congregation I’d be amazed and disturbed, and say, “I didn’t see that coming.”

I have been a guest speaker for a number of congregations that seemed, on a visit, welcoming and healthy. Though churches put on their best face for visitors, I usually can discern trouble by speaking with a congregation’s leaders and members, or the hosts who have welcomed me to stay in their homes. So healthy and happy congregations are out there.

It was this kind of congregation I dreamed about. Granted, it may have been my brain attempting to balance the very negative dream the night before about a presbytery meeting gone awry and vicious!

On further reflection, however, I realized the dream was not just a wish but a reality. That week I’d received a number of positive responses to this blog, whose readership is the largest congregation I’ve ever served!

And there are no board meetings, no committees, no commute, little overhead, no buildings or plans to build one, no bills, no pledge drive, no dress code, no conflict among members, no begging for volunteers—the list goes on and benefits both you and me. (Of course it also means this ministry realizes very little income—apparently those things are what churchgoers are paying for!)

Without complaint, I can get political, critique or reinterpret Christian tenets, explore other religions, read and talk about spirituality and the contemplative life (you’d be surprised how many churchgoers don’t like that!), and be as queer as I choose to be—not to say I don’t wonder “was it something I said?” that prompts someone to “unsubscribe” or attendance to go down. You, the reader, always have the option to skip or delete, read or respond or share my thoughts.

I miss face-to-face encounters, but sometimes e-mail exchanges are more intimate and profound and informative than the usual chit-chat during coffee hour, and they come from all over the world. And I supplement this blog community—as I hope that you do—with other people, communities, causes, and conversations.

A good thing about calling this “Progressive Christian Reflections” is that I can be as progressive as I want to be, as Christian as I am, and offer my reflections to you in the hopes they spark your own. And I am grateful I can do this under the auspices of MCC, Metropolitan Community Churches, as one of the denomination’s Emerging Ministries.

So, no wonder it’s a dream job. Thanks for reading!

Please support this blog ministry: 

http://mccchurch.org/ministries/progressive-christian-reflections/

Be sure to scroll down to the donate link below its description.

Or mail to MCC, P.O. Box 50488, Sarasota FL 34232 USA, designating “Progressive Christian Reflections” in the memo area of your check or money order. Thank you!

Copyright © 2017 by Chris R. Glaser. Permission granted for non-profit use with attribution of author and blogsite. Other rights reserved.  

Do You Read My Blog?

On the occasion of this 100^th weekly post on Progressive Christian Reflections, I thought I would provide a report to readers as well as a request for feedback. Do you read this? How often (guestimate)? How do you use it? Do you share it? Do you have suggestions? Subscribers may simply reply to the e-mail address from which it is sent; others may write me at chrsglaser@aol.com (note there is no “i” in the name).

Today this blog will have registered 60,000 visits since its creation mid-February of 2011. Visitors come from all over the world, though the bulk comes from the U.S. and Switzerland. (I’m not sure why the latter, unless there is a server in that country that distributes to other countries.) Inexplicably, I’ve had surges from time to time from disparate countries, for example: 30 visitors in a single week from Morocco, 40 from China, 75 from Russia, and 102 from Italy. The Vatican makes an occasional visit.

Many of my posts have been re-posted on other blogsites or in e-newsletters, such as ProgressiveChristianity.org, and I blog occasionally for The Huffington Post and Bilerico.

There are over 300 subscribers and followers. (If you subscribed and do not receive this weekly, try subscribing again and respond to the follow-up e-mail verifying your subscription, and check your spam filter.) Between 100 and 200 now visit the site each day, perhaps reading more than one post. But few comments are placed on the blog itself; a few more come to me directly from subscribers responding to a particular post.

Since last spring when donations became possible, I am aware of six contributors who have given a total of $215.  Btw, if you have made a contribution and not received a handwritten “thank you” note from me, please let me know. Your donations are this ministry’s only financial support. If you’d like to contribute, please click here. Thanks! And please consider inviting me to speak or lead an event.

Told by a publisher that there was no market for meditations for progressive Christians, I decided to give away reflections through this blog. It is free, both to visit and to subscribe. And it is not “monetized” (no ads) to avoid distractions to readers. I post the link on 20-30 relevant Facebook pages each Wednesday morning, as well as to my 2100+ Facebook friends. I encourage all to distribute the link and the posts freely, and to use the posts not only for personal reflection, but for readings in worship or conversation-starters in classes.

I am grateful that Rev. Elder Darlene Garner and Metropolitan Community Churches authorized this blog as an Emerging Ministry in the spring of 2012. MCC receives a tithe from donations in gratitude for handling contributions. MCC has served the broader church throughout its 44-year history as an ecumenical, inclusive, and progressive witness to Jesus and his message of God’s commonwealth.

Writing the blog is a fulfilling form of ministry for me, and I am grateful for you who read it. I believe it’s time for the spirituality of progressive Christians to come out of the closet. We are as spiritually motivated as our often more vocal sisters and brothers in the faith. And we need to be fed and uplifted spiritually.

Early on I mentioned Jesus telling his disciples a parable so that they “might pray always and not lose heart.” It was the story of a woman seeking justice from an unjust judge, who finally gives in to her repeated cries for justice just to be rid of her. I hope progressive Christians take this parable to heart, and never give up seeking justice and mercy and peace, as well as an inclusive church, interfaith dialogue, and fresh ways to understand and interpret our faith.

P.S. Last week’s post also appeared on The Huffington Post, where it has received 470 “likes” and over 500 comments. Click here to see it, and please scroll down to find the comments.

Copyright © 2013 by Chris R. Glaser. All rights reserved. Permission granted for non-profit use with attribution of author and blogsite.