Eastern University

On Wednesday, December 2, I returned to where it all began for me.

Eastern University in St Davids, PA is a small Christian college outside of Philadelphia, and is also my alma mater.

At the end of 2005, finally beginning to come to peace with my own identity and with the help of friends and supportive faculty, we started a Gay-Straight Alliance on Eastern's campus. We called it Refuge, and our presence sparked columns in the Waltonian (the school newspaper), meetings with deans, defaced flyers, and a new energy and safe space for conversations around LGBTQ identity. The latter things continued to far outweigh the former, and four years later, they are still going strong.

Last week, I went back to speak to the group of students who are currently there working to be an officially student-government sanctioned group - about how and why Refuge got started, as well as the exciting things we have planned with Sanctuary Collective. It was so energizing to see an almost entirely different set of people excited about the same things we were when we first started. Young people like these will change the way Christ-followers interact with their LGBTQ peers, and I feel blessed to see it as it's happening.

Eastern is a school that focuses a lot on Christian community and social justice, and I have high hopes to see the school that encouraged me to see the world through a new lens become an environment that is explicitly a safe place for LGBTQ people to live and thrive.

Let's make it happen!

Collective Stories: Marie MacIntyre

One of our prayer team members, Marie MacIntyre, sent us this note:

Hi Everyone! I used your Daily Common Prayer in our call to worship today at Alpha Mennonite Church.

Oct. 11 is PinkMenno Day at our church and we will wear pink to show our support for our LGBT brothers and sisters. We could use your prayers that day and will continue to pray for you.

In the love of Christ, 
Marie

"Therefore as God's chosen people, holy and dearly LOVED, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." Col.3:12

Some of us say the Sanctuary Collective Daily Common Prayer together at Thursday community nights, a member of our prayer team says it every day, and some of us include it as part of our regular prayer life.  I am comforted to know that a body of people hold in me in their thoughts and prayers and hold LGBTQ young adults around the country--some they do not know--in prayer and thought.

I invite you to read the daily common prayer and try it in your life or the life of your community.  If you're already using it, please let us know so that we can think of you as well!