The Reformation Project

There are a great many of you out there who like me identify both as LGBT and Christian/Spiritual.  While I am a believer in the teachings of Jesus, I usually identify as Spiritual rather than Christian and/or Religious.  That is because I feel that main stream Religions have fallen into the fallacy of observing the letter of the law while completely violating the spirit of the law.  This is much like the actions of the religious leaders in the time of Jesus, the Pharisees and Sadducees who vehemently observed the letter of Jewish law while completely violating the spirit of that law.  Jesus' most persistent railings were not against the common people but against the religious establishment of the time.  In fact, Jesus spent more time in the company of 'sinners' than those who considered themselves righteous (falsely).  This is the problem I have with modern main stream religions whether they be Catholic, Protestant, Jewish or Muslim.  I have so often been rejected and mistreated by main stream religions or constrained by the massive amount of guilt which seems to be their stock in trade.  I refuse to feel guilty for being me and will not apologize for the fact that I am indeed a flaming homosexual. 

Last year, a young man by the name of Matthew Vines gave a talk at a Methodist Church in Wichita, Kansas expounding on the results of his two year project to study in depth what the Bible actually does or does not say about homosexuality and same sex relationships.  It was a brilliantly conceived and executed project and the hour long talk was recorded, then posted to You Tube.  I posted it here in these pages also, as I believed his conclusions that the Bible did not condemn homosexuality or same sex relationships.  This is in direct conflict with the beliefs of most religions but especially vehemently by those on the extreme evangelical right.  Those on the far right and their spokes haters spend a great deal of time denigrating those of us of the LGBT persuasion using outright lies and distortions to do so.  This year Matthew has formed a new non-profit organization named The Reformation Project whose aim is to educate and equip LGBT and Straight believers to return to their home churches to embody the change that is necessary for the religious world to move back into relevancy and apostleship with the spirit of the teachings of the Bible and Jesus.  Their ultimate goal is to eradicate religious homophobia.  In the video below, Matthew explains his journey to where he is now and what he hopes to accomplish with this new organization.  

From September 18-21, 2013, The Reformation Project will host their first leadership conference for 50 Christians who support the full equality and inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the church. The conference will be held at Asbury United Methodist Church in Prairie Village, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City. Applications for the 50 spots are due on May 1, 2013.  I applaud Matthew in his efforts to bring about spiritual reform in the church, it is about damn time someone grabbed the bull by the horns to persuede them of the errors of their ways, much like Jesus did in his mission here on earth.  The Reformation Project has a website, a facebook and a Twitter where you can learn more about the organization and what Matthew hopes to accomplish with it.  Of course, the ambitious nature of the project requires some financing in order to be able to accomplish its goals, and because of this Matthew also has an Indiegogo page to raise funds for the project.  I urge you to discover for yourself the reality of Matthew's inherent faith and mission and to support him and his project if you see yourself able and willing to do so.  I have re-posted his original video below in case you have not seen it.

Your Musical Moment for today is a recording of ancient and traditional Irish music from the CD 'The Mad Buckgoat' with performances by Custer LaRue and The Baltimore Consort on period instruments.  Following your Musical Moment is marvelously sexy collection of denim dynamite in this week's edition of Men In Jeans.  Thanks for spending time with me today, see you tomorrow.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!