For my day job I work at a mainline church with a mostly older, wealthy, white, congregation. It’s a place that has been good to me, but where I sometimes feel out of step.

This year I was asked to be the guest preacher for our annual Pride Sunday. I don’t get to preach at this church very often and so I wanted to make this one count.

But I was nervous. Actually, I was more than nervous; I was terrified! I wanted to be bold but I was afraid it would make people mad. I wanted to be prophetic but I was afraid I would be dismissed because of my age. I didn’t know what to do.

I thought about playing it safe. I could easily preach a “nice” sermon that would make people feel good and allow them to pat themselves on the back for all the good work done but I knew that if I did that I wouldn’t feel good about it.

After weeks of going back and forth and warring with myself I decided that I was going to preach what I felt called to preach and let the chips fall where they may (even if it meant that I would be looking for a new job come Monday).

The result is this sermon, titled after a poem of Audre Lorde’s called “We Were Never Meant To Survive”.

I hope that this sermon inspires you to take action, to be bold, and to tell the truth even if it might cost you.

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