November 2020 eNews

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT  

October has quickly slipped away and November is upon us.  Here, in America, one of my favorite holidays is Thanksgiving. I enjoy it because it’s one holiday when we count our blessings. Of course, as I think about it, it feels sacrilegious to celebrate Thanksgiving. I’ve come to think of Columbus Day as Indigenous People’s Day. And it’s hard to think of Thanksgiving without realizing I was taught that it celebrates people who survived in a new land only to take that land away from the people who were here first, Native Americans. I don’t have the power to correct anything in our past. But what I do have the power to do is to live in a way that supports good in the world today. I believe my faith calls me to do that.

October has quickly slipped away and November is upon us.  Here, in America, one of my favorite holidays is Thanksgiving. I enjoy it because it’s one holiday when we count our blessings. Of course, as I think about it, it feels sacrilegious to celebrate Thanksgiving. I’ve come to think of Columbus Day as Indigenous People’s Day. And it’s hard to think of Thanksgiving without realizing I was taught that it celebrates people who survived in a new land only to take that land away from the people who were here first, Native Americans. I don’t have the power to correct anything in our past. But what I do have the power to do is to live in a way that supports good in the world today. I believe my faith calls me to do that.

Many LGBTQ+ folks have celebrated their successful “coming out” to friends and their families. It’s probably a process and event they had thought about and worked on for many months and years. Hopefully, they had created a network of friends and other LGBTQ+ folks that helped them - even coached them - on the scary but desired event. Their understanding and supporting friends were valuable allies for that major and probably emotional time.

Yes, it was a “successful event” for the LGBTQ+ member. They wanted to do it, they needed to do it, and they had their personal courage and friends’ and allies’ support to fall back on to if it didn’t work out as desired.  

 Christian Maturity Manual

BY JERRY MCKAY

For me, an article or a book can be an event. With respect to my orientation, I always found the Bible a challenging event. I found the chapter on homosexuality in the Adventist Health Encyclopedia, You and Your Health, a negative event. The Colin Cook interview in Ministry magazine was a life-altering event. To this list of published events, I would add a chapter I came across shortly after returning from my second visit with Colin.