{"id":12729,"date":"2019-09-10T12:22:26","date_gmt":"2019-09-10T16:22:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/?p=12729"},"modified":"2019-09-10T12:22:26","modified_gmt":"2019-09-10T16:22:26","slug":"revoice-hope-rests-on-honesty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2019\/09\/revoice-hope-rests-on-honesty.html","title":{"rendered":"Revoice: Hope Rests on Honesty"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

People of Earth! Two years ago Revoice<\/a> became, as far as I know, the only<\/em> ecumenical conference for lgbt\/same-sex attracted Christians who accept the Church\u2019s teaching that marriage is the union of a man and a woman. I\u2019ve been to both of the conferences so far and they have been amazing experiences. In a way I\u2019d never experienced, I was among my people.<\/p>\n

Today they\u2019re raising funds<\/a> not only for Revoice 2020, which I can\u2019t recommend highly enough!!!!, but also so they can hire more staffers and give those who already work for Revoice a desperately-needed pay raise. The Revoice staffers I\u2019ve met are ridiculously hardworking and dedicated, and they\u2019ve been doing more than full-time work for, at best, part-time wages. Your donation<\/a> would make it possible for the conference to reach more people, and help prevent burnout and exhaustion.<\/p>\n

In this already-unique conference, one especially beautiful element is its insistence on both the Cross and the Resurrection; both repentance and hope. Leah Libresco Sargeant has written about how Christian pop-music is \u201cunrelentingly cheerful\u201d:<\/p>\n

There were 2.5 times as many mentions of \u201cgrace\u201d as \u201csin\u201d in the songs\u2019 lyrics. Other pairs were even more lopsided: There were more than eight mentions of \u201clife\u201d for every instance of \u201cdeath,\u201d and \u201clove\u201d was more than seven times as common as \u201cfear.\u201d (For the record, 1 John 4:18 \u2014 \u201cperfect love casts out fear\u201d \u2014 is advice for spiritual formation, not lyrics writing.) Parishioners may find too much positive language dispiriting. When Christian pop songs and hymns are \u201cexcessively positive or wholly positive,\u201d they often \u201ccome across as cotton candy and inauthentic,\u201d said Richard Beck, a psychology professor at Abilene Christian University and the author of several<\/a> books<\/a> on the intersection between theology and psychology.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(more<\/a>)<\/p>\n

By contrast, worship at Revoice always took us on a full journey, from Creation through the Fall, to Good Friday and then Easter. The singing and the preaching always called us to take up our own crosses and also<\/em> to trust that Christ carries us. This willingness to acknowledge sorrow, ongoing suffering, sacrifice, and doubt\u2013while placing them in the context of the empty tomb and the glorified Wounds\u2013allows Revoice a deep honesty. I\u2019ve been at other religious conferences for gay or same-sex attracted people, where it seemed like the conference organizers were pushing optimism on us. I\u2019ve been at other conferences where you were allowed to talk about sin and suffering as long as it was a) all about your sexuality, or b) safely in the past. Revoice doesn\u2019t play that. At Revoice people described the ways their churches had imposed unnecessary suffering on them. They looked for the Gospel in gay communities and cultures, and found so much more than their parents and pastors had been able to see. They talked frankly about their own questions and concerns\u2013including concerns with the conference itself! This seems so healthy to me.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve already given a lot of cash and will give more, but I want to encourage all of you to consider what you can give<\/a> to help these people build up a community which is honest with one another and in love with Christ.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People of Earth! Two years ago Revoice became, as far as I know, the only ecumenical conference for lgbt\/same-sex attracted Christians who accept the Church\u2019s teaching that marriage is the union of a man and a woman. I\u2019ve been to both of the conferences so far and they have been amazing experiences. In a way […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1071,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1264,1431],"class_list":["post-12729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gay-catholic-whatnot","tag-gay-catholic-whatnot","tag-revoice"],"yoast_head":"\nRevoice: Hope Rests on Honesty<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"People of Earth! 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