COHOKC

It’s Okay to Be a Christian!

Celt stone g.jpg

While ministering to people, we discovered many that were hurt by Christian churches or were angry at churches. In fact, many people were turned off by Christianity altogether. It became a goal of ours to let people know that “ It’s Okay to Be a Christian!” We are reclaiming a Christianity of extra-vagant grace, radical inclusion,
and relentless compassion.

Do you want to know
how we experience the Bible and Christian tradition,
what we teach, and
how we live out our spirituality and faith?

We remember and experience God’s creation, filled with diversity and wonder.

We proclaim that all creation is beloved of God.

We strive to welcome all of God’s people – no matter their race, gender, class, sexual orientation, culture, or religious background.

We remember and experience that “When we were slaves in Egypt,” God heard our cry and responded with a mighty act of liberation.

We proclaim that God desires liberation from oppression, violence, and sin for all people. And that God especially identifies with the oppressed – outcasts, the poor, the wandering stranger, the “least of these.”

We strive to practice God’s peace and justice in our worship, our service projects, and our public activism, especially on behalf of those most in need.

We remember and experience that God called a people to be a new kind of human community.

We proclaim that we are part of that community and have a responsibility to live according to the way of God in the world.

We strive to practice love, forgiveness, honesty, humility, and generosity with one another.

We remember and experience through the prophets that God is holy and God alone is
sovereign.

We proclaim that God’s truth must be spoken to power, calling attention to empty rituals and unjust societies.

We strive to practice God’s holiness in our worship, by setting aside times, places, energy, and resources to praise, celebrate, learn, give, and pray.

We remember and experience the time of exile, when the people were waiting.

We proclaim that God will bring God’s people home again.

We strive to joyfully celebrate with those who have found a home again.

We remember and experience the birth of Jesus to Mary as God’s surprising work in human history.

We proclaim that God invades human history in the most amazing ways, in the most unexpected of
people, to carry out God’s work.

We strive to empower all of God’s people for ministry.

We remember and experience Jesus’ baptism as the inauguration of his ministry.

We proclaim that baptism is the sign of covenant that we will walk the way of God with the
people of God.

We strive to imitate Christ in our lives.

We remember and experience the ministry of Jesus as one of healing.

We proclaim that Jesus confronted the powers in society and nature
that robbed creation of wholeness and well-being.

We strive to practice a ministry of healing for those who are suffering.

We remember and experience the last supper as Jesus’ participation in an ancient rite and a sign of the future hope.

We proclaim that God welcomes all people to the table, just as they are.

We strive to practice a communion which unites all God’s people.

We remember and experience the crucifixion of Jesus as a moment of incredible
suffering that resulted from Jesus’ radical way of life.

We proclaim that the cross is the model for Christian discipleship.

We strive to practice nonviolence as God’s way of confronting the
powers sin.

We remember and experience the resurrection of Jesus as the defeat of the powers of sin in a moment of new creation.

We proclaim that Christians are the eternal beginners.

We strive to practice hope.

We remember and experience Pentecost as the moment when God’s Spirit was poured out on the early church.

We proclaim that God’s Spirit fills each of us with God’s power and glory.

We strive to practice wisdom and courage.

We remember and experience the apostles as creators of a radical new community.

We proclaim that this community is formed by faith in the grace of God and not because of one’s merit or station in life.

We strive to be inclusive in our language, our music, our leadership, and our daily lives.

We remember and experience God’s revelation of a new age.

We proclaim that God is still speaking,

We strive to listen to God’s still-speaking voice . . .

These are the ideas that fuel our life as a community. We hope that they excite your imagination with a sense of who we are. We invite you to come experience our faith and spirituality firsthand.

If you have questions about our embrace of those of varying sexual orientations and gender identities, please see “Why it’s Okay to be Gay!”

No matter who you are, are where you are on life’s journey you are welcome here.

It’s Okay to Be You

co nature18.jpg

One Sovereign, one faith, one baptism, one God and Parent of all, who is above all, and through all and in all. But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
-- Ephesians 4:6-7

God’s dream is the unity of all creation in Jesus Christ. Jesus lived, died, and rose again that all barriers to unity might be broken down. Jesus’ ministry was filled with extravagant grace, radical inclusion, and relentless compassion. The church should reflect God’s embrace of all creation. The waters of baptism do not discriminate. Baptism makes us all one in Christ. In communion Christ’s body is broken and life spilled out, so that all people might be united with God, with one another, and in ministry to the whole world.

We are convicted that God wants us to welcome all people, just as they are.

Regardless of Faith Background

Our members come from a wide spectrum of denominational and faith backgrounds. Our worship is intentionally designed to reflect this diversity in its rituals and music. There should be a little something for everyone. We are a Christian church, but we are determined that no one feel excluded.

Regardless of where folk are on their faith journey, they are welcome here. We are all seeking the truth together.

Regardless of Gender

Women and men serve equally in our congregation. Transgender people are welcome and serve in positions of leadership. In worship we use inclusive images and language.

Regardless of Sexual Orientation

We do not discriminate against heterosexual people. :-) People of varying sexual orientations serve in leadership in our church. Read our essay on “It’s Okay to Be Gay” if you have any questions.

Regardless of Ability

We are constantly working to welcome and include all God’s children. Our facility is handicapped accessible. We have sign language translation of our worship services. We even make gluten-free communion wafers available for those with dangerous gluten allergies.

Regardless of Race

God’s creation is filled with diversity. Our congregation includes people from many different racial and ethnic backgrounds. In our worship and ministries, we strive to include contributions from various cultures. We hope to become even more racially diverse as our message of radical welcome and inclusive love is heard by more people.

its ok to be you

It’s Okay to Be a Gay!

“For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.”
-- Isaiah 65:7-8

Regardless of your sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, you are welcome and included at the Cathedral of Hope.

A Time for Healing

We find that some people struggle to reconcile their identity with their religious up-bringing. Many were raised in families or churches that preached that you couldn't’t be queer and be a Christian.

Are you curious what the Bible has to say about homosexuality?

We invite you to examine a few resources that we believe will bring understanding and healing:

A statement on “Homosexuality and Christianity” by the Rev. Michael Piazza, Dean of the Cathedral of Hope in Dallas, Texas.

The “Letter to Louise” by retired Southern Baptist minister Rev. Bruce Lowe, the first recipient of our Hero of Hope Award. Rev. Lowe writes, “I wrote this letter to Louise, reflecting what I have come to believe is the truth about homosexuality, what the Bible says and what God wants us to think and do about it.”

A Time to be Free

Banner in parade.jpg

We believe that God’s will for all humans includes liberation from social oppression.

God led the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt in order to form a new people of justice and righteousness.

Isaiah proclaimed that God’s house would be for all people, including those excluded and cast out

.Jesus ministered to those shunned by his society – prostitutes, tax collectors, lepers, the mentally ill, women, and the poor.

At Pentecost, God’s Spirit was poured out on all types of people, proclaiming that in the church all nations and peoples would be united.

One of the earliest converts to Christianity was an Ethiopian eunuch, fulfilling statements of Isaiah and Jesus, and serving as a sign that members of different races and different sexual/gender groups would be included in the church.

Then, in Galatians 3:27-28 we read:

As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.
We could spend the next century debating what Paul really meant in Romans 1 or other of the obscure and difficult passages that supposedly refer to homosexuality. We could debate what Paul knew and didn't’t know about same-sex relationships – the science, the philosophy, the culture. Or, we can look at his plain and clear statement here in Galatians and realize that no matter what Paul knew about social categories, he knew something about Christianity. He knew it in the deepest recesses of his heart. It was central to his faith. Christianity does not discriminate; it sets people free.

When we read scripture, especially those of us who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender, we are liberated by its message.

You are a child of the majestic creator of the universe. You are loved with a Mother’s love. You are the apple of your Father’s eye. You share the same body as your Brother Jesus the Christ. You are filled with God’s Holy Spirit -- your Partner and Lover throughout life. You can claim God’s power and glory. You are fabulous, each and every one!

A Time to Be Transformed

Batter my heart, three person’d God; for, you
As yet but knocke, breathe, shine, and seeke to mend;
That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow mee,’and bend
Your force, to breake, blowe, burn and make me new.
I, like an usurpt towne, to’another due,
Labour to’admit you, but Oh, to no end,
Reason your viceroy in mee, mee should defend,
But is captiv’d, and proves weake or untrue.
Yet dearely’I love you,’and would be loved faine,
But am betroth’d unto your enemie:
Divorce mee,’untie, or breake that knot againe,
Take mee to you, imprison mee, for I
Except you’enthrall mee, never shall be free,
Nor ever chast, except you ravish mee.
-- John Donne

So, what does God desire for creation?

God wants creation to have what God has -- ecstatic fellowship -- loving relationship of all the creation with each other and with God.

“The risen Christ conveys hope that transforms our present life, and erotic love at its best turns upon episodes of transformation.”
-- James McClendon in Systematic Theology: Ethics

Many theologians agree that sexuality and spirituality are intimately connected. In sexuality our intimacy is the most mutual. As the most powerful human experience of ecstatic fellowship, sexual love is a window into God’s desire for creation.

Why? Because we are outside of ourselves, caring for and valuing another person completely and wholly, at the same time that we are being cared for and valued as complete and whole persons.

For many persons, their primary experience of inclusive love, of openness to another, of being accepted and enhanced, of being empowered by love to reach out in love to other, is sexual.”
-- Christine Gudorf in Body, Sex, and Pleasure: Reconstructing Christian Sexual Ethics

Consider what happens in these moments. We are transformed, created anew, redeemed and healed, sustained and comforted -- all of these are functions of the divinity. In this experience we can learn what God really desires for creation.

Christianity has a positive message about human sexuality – from Genesis through the Song of Solomon to the medieval mystics and contemporary theologians.

We have taken on shame and guilt about our bodies, about sex, and about our sexuality. This shame and guilt are rooted in one strain of Christian teaching that repressed and hid the body and sex and considered discussion of such to be inappropriate. Holy Scripture and the Christian tradition liberate us from those mistaken teachings and free us to understand that our erotic love for one another is a practice of our Christian spirituality.

The Christian story tells us that we are created and redeemed in our bodies. God has delighted in our bodies, so should we. In our most intimate relationship, we find bodily delight.

Our sexuality can be rooted in the Christian story!

As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. – Colossians 3:12-15

A Time for Hope

“. . . and the creator loves pizzazz.”
-- Annie Dillard, in The Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

True spiritual growth begins once a person has acknowledged that all people are loved and welcomed by God. So many people and so many churches have yet to acknowledge this truth.

Once we realize that we are all loved and that we are all welcomed, then we begin to love like God loves. Only then are our eyes open to grace. Only then are we freed from anxiety. Only then are we able to appreciate true beauty. Only then can we really play. Only then can we truly create community that bears witness to the way of God.

Only then can we be truly human as God created us to be -- to

                love wastefully,
      give generously,
                     be constantly amazed at beauty,
                                 and play with the abandon of children.

Gone is negativity. Gone is judgment. Gone is worry. Gone is meanness. All is joy. All is beauty. All is adventure. All is fellowship. All is love.

Through our embrace of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, we bear witness to the way of God.

This is our mission – to reclaim a Christianity of extravagant grace, radical inclusion, and relentless compassion.

Therefore, all our efforts at equality and justice are our testimony on behalf of God as revealed in Jesus Christ. It is our hope that our witness will lead others to acknowledge Jesus as Lord.

We are a sign of hope!

That God’s will is being done on earth as it is in heaven.