Holy Week

Lent is a special season of reflection for people of the Christian faith. These days provide us with space to consider the teachings of Jesus in the spirit of renewal and rebirth. Please note these special services for Holy Week on your calendar:

Palm Sunday, April 13th | 9:30am at University Park Church | 11 am at Sunnyside Church

Good Friday, April 18th | 10am at Rev. Chuck Currie's house (this will be a simple service with Scripture reading)

Easter, April 20th | 10:30 am joint worship service with the people of University Park Church and Sunnyside Church in Sunnyside Church's historic sanctuary All are welcome.

It's simple: World Vision caved to Christian bigotry today. Yesterday the relief aid agency announced they would no long discriminate against gays and lesbians in employment. After a firestorm of criticism - fostered by men such as Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention - they reversed their decision. It's a tragedy.

The General Synod of the United Church of Christ has said:

The message of the Gospel is the lens through which the whole of scripture is to be interpreted. Love and compassion, justice and peace are at the very core of the life and ministry of Jesus. It is a message that always bends toward inclusion. The biblical story recounts the ways in which inclusion and welcome to God's community is ever expanding -- from the story of Abraham and Sarah, to the inclusive ministry of Jesus, to the baptism of Cornelius, to the missionary journeys of Paul throughout the Greco- Roman world. The liberating work of the Spirit as witnessed in the activities of Jesus' ministry has been to address the situations and structures of exclusion, injustice and oppression that diminish God's people and keep them from realizing the full gift of human personhood in the context of human communion.

More and more Christian denominations and affiliated faith-based organizations are coming to understand that discrimination can no longer be embraced in the name of Jesus - whose ministry broke down walls.  

One day we can hope that World Vision gets on the right side of the Gospel.  Sadly, it will not be today.

Update: Some are advocating a boycott of World Vision. I'm not. But I do hope people of faith consider making a donation to Global Ministries' Child Sponsorship Program. Global Ministries is a joint program of the United Church of Christ & Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and supports LGBT rights.

Update: World Vision Slams Door; Ejects Gays and Lesbians

Three cheers for World Vision! The Christian organization, which works to fight poverty, announced this week they would no longer prohibit open gays and lesbians from being employed. It is what we’d expect from followers of Jesus.

The lectionary reading this past Sunday was John 4:5-42. We find Jesus in this story doing the unexpected: talking with a Samaritan – and a woman at that. This broke all the social rules of the time but Jesus’ ministry broke down walls of exclusion in favor of inclusion. His was a ministry of reconciliation and justice.

World Vision president Richard Sterns told Christianity Today that the decision not to exclude gays and lesbians from the organization was "symbolic not of compromise but of [Christian] unity."

The motto of the United Church of Christ is: “That they may all be one.”

We need one another in this troubled world. In fact, we cannot survive without one another.

In the fight against poverty it should not matter if we are straight or gay. Because – and I say this from a place of deep faith – God’s creation is good. We are made in God’s image. We are beloved. That goes for us all regardless of our national heritage or sexual orientation or even religion.

Let’s end the culture wars and live out the Gospel teachings.

There Are No Strangers In God's House: A Homily on Matthew 25:31-46 by Rev. Chuck Currie from The Rev. Chuck Currie on Vimeo.

Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church protested my seminary and one of my congregations. Today I pray for him as he passes from this life to the arms of a loving and forgiving God. People ask: does Phelps belong in Hell? He has already lived there for many years. Jesus tells us to pray for our enemies and Phelps was an enemy of our faith. God is not vengeful but grace filled. Ironically, Phelps’ protests showed the world how discrimination and hate towards gays and lesbians was anything but Christian. Today we do not rejoice in Phelps’ passing – or the pain of his family - but instead offer prayers that in death he will know the love of God that surpasses all human understanding. May this be a time of healing for all those hurt by Fred Phelps’ and Westboro Baptist Church.

My latest on The Huffington Post:

"It is particularly important that young people get covered so that no accident or illness leaves them with medical bills and debt that rob them of the opportunity to further their education or one day own a home."

#GetCovered: The Story of Erica Martinez

My latest op-ed in The Forest Grove Leader / The Oregonian:

Good people of faith can have differences of opinion on marriage equality – and the proposed measure making marriage equality legal in Oregon also writes into law that no clergy or religious institution can ever be forced into performing a same sex marriage – but anyone who uses religion as a shield for arguing that gays and lesbians should be subject to discrimination in the marketplace is committing theological malpractice.

Is gay marriage coming to Oregon?