Calling yourself a member of any large and diverse group has benefits and drawbacks. Sometimes for us at Glenwood Table, it feels challenging to call ourselves Christians because of our experiences of queer-phobia in churches, not to mention many blasphemous ways White American Evangelicalism has put limits on God’s love for all people. We gathered a few of our trusted ministry colleagues and friends (you'll recognize them from past episodes!) to ask this question of each other: Why do we still call ourselves Christians? What do we identify with in the contexts of our shared, yet unique, religious heritages that make us call ourselves people of faith?
This is the first episode of two, and in this episode, we focus on our outward answers based on our experiences of beautiful and painful community. We pray that listening to this episode and considering your own answer, if you call yourself a person of any faith tradition, is just as meaningful, refreshing, and encouraging a time for you as it was for us.
