The Pride and the Pursuit

Earlier this month, our family enjoyed a few days of vacation in the Chicagoland area. We were able to visit a clergy friend of mine, The Rev. Eric Fistler, who pastors a United Church of Christ congregation called First Congregational Church of Crystal Lake, located in a Chicagoland suburb. When we dropped by the church, we could not help but notice the free-standing rainbow-colored doors in the front lawn, each with a word on them in all caps spelling out, “God’s doors are open to all.”

When I commented on the doors being such a joyful celebration of Pride month, Eric said, “Actually, we keep the doors out here most of the year. We only take them down during the harshest months of the winter to keep them from getting damaged.” He told me about how, initially, the congregation planned on taking the rainbow doors down when Pride Month was over, but he urged them to keep them up as a reminder that God’s doors are open to all, including our LGBTQ+ neighbors, no matter what time of year it is.

In days of pride and joy, and in all the days that keep up the pursuit of justice for those marginalized by society and who are so often pushed out by the Church, God’s doors are open to all.

It reminded me of our denomination’s Statement of Faith, where it says, “Jesus calls us into his church to accept the cost and joy of discipleship.” As a faith community giving witness to the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, which is always open to everyone, we are called together to celebrate the joy of our diverse personhood made in the vibrant mosaic of God’s image, and we are called into Jesus’ church to accept the cost that comes with advocating for our LGBTQ+ neighbors and relentlessly pursuing justice for them and in solidarity with them.

So, when the rainbow flags come down and the Pride Month celebrations conclude in a few days, let us maintain the joy of God’s doors being open to all, and let us also remain vigilant in the pursuit of equal rights and protections for our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer neighbors and their families and their children. Let us accept the pride of being made in the image of Divine love and included equally in the expanse of that Holy Love’s affection, while we also accept the pursuit of all creation’s eyes being opened to that liberating truth and blessed by what they see.