THIS is an extract from Proclaim, Protest, Pray, a special reflection for Pride Month by OTN Co-Chair Alex Clare-Young.

I wish that Pride was all year round: that every day LGBTQIA+ people could feel safe enough, free enough, and affirmed fully enough to lift up our lives and our voices  to proclaim our authentic God-given truths, to protest the injustice that we experience every day, and to pray for justice and peace.

Through my ministry, I hope to create spaces in which queer pride, proclamation, protest and prayer are celebrated every day, and as the Open Table Network, we work together to create communities where you are more than welcome.

Authenticity

God speaks queer truths. The woman by the well? [John 4:4-26] She didn't have to hide who she was from God. She didn't have to explain either. Jesus knew her and loved her and celebrated her. That knowing, and loving, and celebrating changed her from someone full of shame, someone who hid from her community to someone full of pride, someone who told her story and changed lives.

God speaks queer truths. Me? I don't have to hide who I am from God. I don't have to explain either. Jesus knows me and loves me and celebrates me. That knowing, and loving, and celebrating is changing me from someone full of shame, someone who hid from my communities to someone full of pride, someone who tells my story in the hope that I might be able to change lives.

God speaks queer truths. You? You don't have to hide who you are from God. You don't have to explain either. Jesus knows you and loves you and celebrates you. That knowing, and loving, and celebrating can transform the shame that this broken, wounded, messed up world can put on you to pride. You don't owe anyone your story, or your life, but when you do share something of yourself, even a small smile, or a heart-broken tear, with those around you, you have the capacity to change lives.

Prayer

The hour will come when we can come down from the mountain to proclaim, protest and pray in spirit and truth wherever we are...

God our creator and recreator
We proclaim the beautiful, creative, messy, diverse, painful, authentic truths
of your lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, non-binary, queer, intersex, and asexual people.
We protest against abusive attempts to discredit us, lie about us, or change us.
We pray that the hour will come when we can  proclaim our truths freely around any table, without fear.

Christ, our kin whom we embody here and now,
We proclaim the possibilities of transformation,
the plasticity of our human bodies and minds
and the potential of new lives of authenticity and grace in you.
We protest against the enforcement of theories that limit or imprison your people.
We pray that the hour will come when expansive freedom is a given.

Spirit, breath, fire, water, life, and inspiration,
We proclaim our openness to you.
We protest against closed minds, closed doors, closed tables.
We pray that the hour will come when all minds, doors, and tables are open
to transformative new understandings, voices, and guests.