The River View Journey

  Here’s my story… I grew up in 80’s and 90’s in a Christian family and community. I grew up in purity culture. I grew up seeing only heterosexual relationships. I grew up having it insinuated or specifically said that homosexual relationships were deviant.  Much loss early in my life which occurred along a few other events meant I deeply feared being a disappointment. I was a good girl. Subconsciously, I tried really hard to do everything I could to keep people from leaving me. Without knowing  it, what I wanted in life became deeply shaped by what I was supposed to want.  I wanted to be a mother. So, of course I wanted to be a wife. I wanted the Christian marriage where the man was head of the household, but at the same time we would be equal partners. But, also, we wouldn’t be tied to typical gender stereotypes. I worked hard to find what I wanted. When it didn’t come by the end of college and then the end of seminary (where I earned my Master’s degree to become c...

  Today I am pondering story…the story that is the foundation of my faith as well as my own story.  The faith foundation story is one about love expressed despite how society would want to qualify that love  regarding who is in and who is out (whether that is society of 4000, 2000, 10 years in the past or 10, 2000, 4000 years into the future). It’s a love that is poured out consistently. It is both a universal love and a deeply personal love. It’s there whether I “feel” it or allow myself to receive it. It’s a love poured out on me despite my ongoing personal transformation and self-understanding. As Paul writes in the book of Romans nothing can separate me from the love of my creator. Fall and the changing of the colors of the leaves is a consistent reminder of this truth for me. An oak or maple tree is still an oak or maple tree even if the leaves are not green. Such is the love of God for me and you. No matter our changes, God’s love is big enough to surround and cover...