The Diocese of Toronto’s St. John’s holds a monthly Queer Eucharist where those still smarting from “the church’s historic condemnation of homosexuality” can reassure themselves that what St. Paul and 2000 years of church history said about homosexual acts was wrong all along.
Rev. Samantha Caravan points out that a lot of “people have left the church” over this. Now, because of the Queer Eucharist, it seems they have returned; all 12 of them.
From here:
On a January evening in Toronto, a dozen or so congregants filter in from the cold into the surprising mauve, green and yellow interior of a stately old church in a leafy west-end neighbourhood.
They stand to sing Marty Haugen’s “Here in this Place New Light is Streaming,” and listen as the Rev. Samantha Caravan, clad in rainbow vestments, asks for inspiration “to speak a new word, to shout another praise.” Caravan reads a passage from St. Peter’s letter, in which he addresses the persecuted early church: “Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
A sermon is preached on the need for a faith of inclusion, after which the congregation affirms that it will not “patronize, exclude or ignore the gifts of any person.”
The group stands in a circle around the altar and takes the bread and wine. Together, they offer themselves to be leaders of liberation and proclaimers of divine love. To the much-beloved Thaxted tune, they sing, “Let streams of living justice flow down upon the earth,” before gathering for refreshments and chat.
It’s queer Eucharist night at St. John’s West Toronto.
It was last fall, says incumbent priest the Rev. Samantha Caravan, when she first suggested having a special Eucharist for LGBTQ people at St. John’s. The church’s historic condemnation of homosexuality, Caravan says, has caused a lot of hurt to non-heterosexuals; a lot of these people have left the church as a result. The idea behind the queer Eucharist, she says, was to welcome them back and to offer them “a safe place to explore what the church and faith might mean to them.”
