We Were Never Meant to Survive

Published: July 26, 2014, 3:15 p.m.

b'For my day job I work at a mainline church with a mostly older, wealthy, white, congregation. It\\u2019s a place that has been good to me, but where I sometimes feel out of step.\\nThis year I was asked to be the guest preacher for our annual Pride Sunday. I don\\u2019t get to preach at this church very often and so I wanted to make this one count.\\nBut I was nervous. Actually, I was more than nervous; I was terrified! I wanted to be bold but I was afraid it would make people mad. I wanted to be prophetic but I was afraid I would be dismissed because of my age. I didn\\u2019t know what to do.\\nI thought about playing it safe. I could easily preach a \\u201cnice\\u201d sermon that would make people feel good and allow them to pat themselves on the back for all the good work done but I knew that if I did that I wouldn\\u2019t feel good about it.\\nAfter weeks of going back and forth and warring with myself I decided that I was going to preach what I felt called to preach and let the chips fall where they may (even if it meant that I would be looking for a new job come Monday).\\nThe result is this sermon, titled after a poem of Audre Lorde\\u2019s called \\u201cWe Were Never Meant To Survive\\u201d.\\nI hope that this sermon inspires you to take action, to be bold, and to tell the truth even if it might cost you.\\nThe post \\u201cWe Were Never Meant to Survive\\u201d appeared first on Queer Theology.'