NEWS

Sunday, October 4, 2026 Rev. Br. Ian Boden, OLF LGBTQIA+ Person of Faith LOVEboldly Board Member Quote “Turn now, O God of hosts, look down from heaven; behold and tend this vine; preserve what your right hand has planted.” ~Psalm 80:14-15 (Evangelical Lutheran Worship Hymnal) Devotion We are the vine that God tends. God formed us and nurtures us. God cares for us and delights in us. Authentic is one of my favorite words to use to describe Saint Francis of Assisi, w

Sunday, September 27, 2026 Cass Helm LGBTQIA+ Person of Faith LOVEboldly Board Member Quotes “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson “Trans people are extraordinary, strong, intelligent, persistent, and resilient. We have to be. And we will not stand for the picking and choosing of rights.” ~Grace Dolan-Sandrino “We have to be visible. We are not ashamed of who we are.”

Sunday, September 20, 2026 - Yom Kippur Rabbi Ari Jun Allied Person of Faith Quote Is not this the fast I want– the opening of the bonds of wickedness, the loosening of the bindings of the yoke, and the free release of those who are oppressed, and that every yoke be broken? ~Isaiah 58:6, (author’s translation) Devotion As a Jew, I fast on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. This custom comes from an interpretation of Leviticus 16:29, in which God commands the I

Sunday, September 13, 2026 Padraig LGBTQIA+ Person of Faith Quote “The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s; but the earth he has given to human beings.” ~Psalm 115:16 (NRSV) Devotion My pre-Christian Celtic ancestors understood something that modern Christianity has forgotten: the sacred isn’t locked away in buildings or confined to Sunday mornings. There are places, thin places, they called them, where the boundary between the physical and the spiritual become

Sunday, September 6, 2026 Ella LGBTQIA+ Person of Faith Quote “Come close to my side, you whose hearts are on the ground, you who are pushed down and worn out, and I will refresh you. Follow my teachings and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest from your trouble thought. Walk side by side with me and I will share in your heavy load and make it light.” ~Matthew 11:28-30 (First Nations Version) Devotion My grandmother used to say

Sunday, August 30, 2026 Carmen LGBTQIA+ Person of Faith Quote “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” ~Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NRSV) Devotion There’s a particular feeling to the last weekend of August. You can sense autumn approaching even if the weather hasn’t changed yet. The light shifts. The evenings cool down just slightly. Something is ending, and something else is beginning, and we’re standing right in the middle of that transi

Sunday, August 23, 2026 Lisa Vahey Allied Person of Faith Quote And God will delight when we are creators of justice and joy, compassion and peace: yes, God will delight when we are creators of justice, justice and joy! ~For Everyone Born Devotion These words are the refrain of Shirley Erena Murray’s hymn, For Everyone Born, which has been beautifully updated with revised lyrics by Avery Arden at Binary Breaking Worship. Here is one of their new inclusive verses:

Sunday, August 16, 2026 Yaseen LGBTQIA+ Person of Faith Quote “Ordain for us what is good in this life and the next. Indeed, we have turned to You in repentance.” Allah replied, “I will inflict My torment on whoever I will. But My mercy encompasses everything.” ~Al-A’raf 156 Devotion I love this passage and God’s promise that his “mercy encompasses everything.” He doesn’t say, “my mercy is available under certain conditions” or “my mercy extends to those who meet th

Sunday, August 9, 2026 Clare LGBTQIA+ Person of Faith Quote “So, if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” ~John 8:36 (NRSV) Devotion August is wandering season. Vacation time. Road trips with no particular destination. Long evenings when the light stretches out and you’re not quite sure where the day went. There’s a looseness to August that the rest of the year doesn’t quite have. A permission to meander. I’ve been thinking lately about how much of Que

Sunday, August 2, 2026 The Rev. Felicia Melcorledi De Rosa LGBTQIA+ Person of Faith Quote “Receive love when it is offered, and offer love regardless. Yet do not allow the duality of love to cause you despair. For love can lift up your heart and it can likewise drag it down. Accept love in the manner in which it comes to you. Do not possess it, or attempt to control or shape it. For love is free, and shall come or go in its manner.” ~Aradia de Tuscano Devotion The summ

Sunday, July 26, 2026 Shonda - LGBTQIA+ Person of Faith Quote “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.” ~Genesis 2:15 (NRSVUE) Devotion Late July in the garden is humbling work. The early enthusiasm of spring planting is long gone. The weeds are relentless. Some plants have flourished beyond expectation while others have simply given up despite your best efforts. Everything needs water, needs attention, needs something from

Sunday, July 19, 2026 Arnav LGBTQIA+ Person of Faith Quote “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” ~Luke 5:4 (NRSV) Devotion Peter had been fishing all night and caught nothing. He was tired, his nets were empty, and he was ready to call it quits. Then Jesus shows up and tells him to try again, but this time, to go deeper. I imagine Peter’s skepticism. He was the professional here. He knew these waters. He’d already tried everything. And

Sunday, July 12, 2026 Kelly Crouch LGBTQIA+ Person of Faith LOVEboldly Board Member Alum Quote O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely. ~Psalm 139:1-4 Devotion I learned the truth about my Transness during the first winter of

Sunday, July 5, 2026 The Rev. Dr. Ben Huelskamp LGBTQIA+ Person of Faith Executive Director, LOVEboldly Quote “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” ~Galatians 5:1 (NRSVUE) Devotion The fireworks are over. The cookouts are done. The flags are coming down. It’s the day after Independence Day, and everything feels a little quieter, a little more ordinary. I've always had complicated feelings about the

June 30, 2026 - Queer Youth of Faith Day Gwendolyn G. De Rosa LGBTQIA+ Person of Faith Quote “I trade all I’ve known for the unknown ahead.” ~The Rings of Power Devotion Do you have a comfort movie? You know, one of those movies that you can watch when you’re stuck at home with a fever, or you’re going through a messy break-up, or something horrific happened in the news again. The Lord of the Rings (LotR) films are my comfort movies. The story of The Lord of the R

Sunday, June 28, 2026 - Fourth Sunday of Pride Month The Rev. Julia Joyce-Miesse LGBTQIA+ Person of Faith Quote “Do the work that your soul must have.” ~The Rev. Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon Devotion “What do you want to be when you grow up?” This is a question often posed to young children as they enter school. I love the feisty passion that bubbles through their little beings. “An astronaut!” exclaims one young one. “A garbage collector!” bellows another. “A horse hair

Sunday, June 21, 2026 - Third Sunday of Pride Month The Rev. Iva Joyce-Miesse LGBTQIA+ Person of Faith LOVEboldly Board Member Quote “And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’” Matthew 3:17 (NIV) Devotion Each year as the third Sunday of June arrives, two observances come into a unique focus and juxtaposition within my consciousness. Both are, at their core, about identity and belonging—one celebrating the freedom to li

Friday, June 19, 2026 The Rev. Dr. Judy Alston LGBTQIA+ Person of Faith Quote So, if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36 (NRSV) Devotion Each June, two significant movements for liberation come together: Juneteenth and Pride Month. Juneteenth marks the delayed announcement of freedom to enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, in 1865. Pride Month honors the courage, dignity, and visibility of LGBTQIA+ individuals who, at Stonewall an

Sunday, June 14, 2026 - Second Sunday of Pride Month Min. Blyth Barnow LGBTQIA+ Person of Faith Quote “We were made in God's image, which does not speak to perfection but to the vastness of possibility and the irrefutability of our worth.” Devotion I believe the world is beautiful. Or I suppose I should say, I believe the world was made to be beautiful. I never understood a condemning, punishing God. Only humans could create a deity that is so self-hating. No, I trus

Sunday, June 7, 2026 - Pride Sunday The Rev. Dr. Joelle Henneman LGBTQIA+ Person of Faith Quote “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.” ~Psalm 139:14 (NRSV) Devotion Or as I like to say: “You are Queerfully and wonderfully made.” There’s something holy that happens when you hear the truth about yourself and believe it. For many of us in the LGBTQIA+ community, we’ve spent years being told we’re “t