New and Notable: A GRACIOUS HERESY: THE QUEER CALLING OF AN UNLIKELY PROPHET

This book is for anyone who wants to live an honest, authentic, and loving life, despite the risks they might encounter by doing so.

Connie Tuttle's spiritual journey is a must-read for anyone who has ever had to hide or even felt the need to hide who they are from the world. She demonstrates by example how difficult yet liberating living one's own spiritual and life truth can be.

This book is for all of us.

BLURB
Take one wildly naive, deeply flawed, completely unconventional woman and stir in God. Add to the mix that she is a lesbian, feminist, army brat, and single mom, and what you get is an earnestly radical Christian on a mission. Her response to an insistent call to prophetic ministry is acutely human and terminally messy. Prone to veer off course, she wrestles angels who repeatedly return her to her trajectory. The prophetic ministry to which she is called ends up taking place in hundreds of small daily acts rather than the great act that she had hoped for.

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Loving the Words of this Pastor, Even though I'm a Lapsed Gay Catholic

Don't tell my husband, but I love John Pavlovitz. Every day, on his blog, he says "stuff that needs to be said" and I eat it all up. His compassion, kindness, and wisdom are compelling and always provide a respite for me during my most trying days.

The fact that he preaches the Christian gospel (and I am not a Christian, but spiritual, honoring all paths to spirituality) is irrelevant. His words are so imbued with love that they always resonate.

Take this post, which actually made me cry, because it's an antidote to all the hate spewed by Christians against LGBTQ people, in particular the religion I was raised in, Catholicism.

In part, Mr. Pavlovitz says:

If you’re reading this and you identify as LGBTIQ here’s what I really hope you know: 

You are not an abomination to God. Anyone with even a cursory understanding of the Bible knows that this is a completely irresponsible use of Scripture, and that using such a loaded word for another human being simply because of their gender identity or sexual orientation or because of the person they love is a reckless bastardization of the Bible and distortion of the heart of God.
Refuse to wear this label. It doesn’t belong to you. You are far too great for it. 

You are not a mistake.The same God we credit for the stars and the sea and the butterfly’s wings created you. This means you are made of the same stuff God is and with the very same care. Never allow someone to make you feel as though you are at all an error in need of correcting, that you are somehow less-than. You are intentional and perfect.
Even if it has taken you some time to figure out who you are, God has always known. 

You are not broken.Your gender identity and sexual orientation are not flaws or moral defects. They are not signs that you are damaged and to be repaired. Your intelligence and character, your humor and capacity to love, your gifts and passions, your goodness and humanity all comprise the sum total of who you are and it is a thing of beauty. 

You don’t need fixing.

Read the whole post though...it's really worth it. And if you agree with him (and me) please share it. This is not only stuff that needs to be said, but to be heard.