Manitowoc-area clergy support Pride Month in letter to the editor

Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter
·3 min read

Here is this week’s letter to the editor of the Herald Times Reporter. See our letters policy below for details about how to share your views.

Local clergy offer support for Pride Month

We faith leaders wanted to share words of support for and celebrate with the LGBTQIA+ community in Manitowoc and beyond as Pride Month is upon us.

Manitowoc has been blessed by the presence of LGBTQIA+ folks as family, friends, neighbors, and members of our faith communities and our community leadership.

We want to make our support clear. We believe that God made us each, Imago Dei, in the image of God. We believe that when the image of God is denied in our LGBTQIA+ siblings, whether by law, policy or hatred, the Imago Dei is diminished in all of us. We celebrate the full lives of all people, inclusive of all genders, orientations and expressions. In our congregations, we support the full communion, marriage and ordination of LGBTQIA+ Christians. In our community life, we embrace and advocate for the full inclusion of LGBTQIA+ in all aspects of our community, including our public schools.

We strive to interpret our sacred texts boldly through the lens of God’s unending grace and abundant love for the world. Love is at the very heart of our faith, as Jesus himself invites us to “Love one another.” Our love is inclusive, welcoming and faithful.

To be inclusive: is to love and not judge, to welcome and not reject, to be open to new ways and not shackled by the ways of the past. We celebrate Manitowoc’s growth toward being a more inclusive, expansive and embracing community.

We hold our LGBTQIA+ siblings in prayer and pray for them, for their families, and for our community this month and beyond. May God ever guide and bless our journey toward justice, inclusivity, and hope in Manitowoc and beyond.

Grace and Peace,

The Rev. Daniel Borchers, United Church of Christ, chaplain at Froedtert Holy Family Memorial Hospital

The Rev. Dr. W. Steven Butler, United Church of Christ, retired

The Rev. Sara Gorman, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Redeemer Lutheran Church, Plymouth

The Rev. Dr. Bruce Hanstedt, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, retired

The Rev. Dr. Matthew L. Sauer, Presbyterian Church (USA)/United Church of Christ, First Presbyterian Church, Manitowoc; Peace United Church of Christ, Manitowoc

The Rev. Brian Staude, The Episcopal Church, St. James Episcopal Church, Manitowoc

The Rev. Andrew Wendle, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, First Lutheran Church, Manitowoc

The Rev. Heather Yerion-Keck, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Manitowoc; Calvary Lutheran Church, Two Rivers

Our letters policy

Letters to the editor are published in the order in which they are received and letter-writers are limited to having one letter published per month. Letters can be emailed to htrnews@htrnews.com and Editor Brandon Reid at breid@gannett.com. Letters must meet specific guidelines, including being no more than 250 words and be from local authors or on topics of local interest. All submissions must include the name of the person who wrote the letter, their city of residence and a contact phone number. Letters are edited as needed for style, grammar, length, fairness, accuracy and libel.

This article originally appeared on Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Manitowoc area clergy support Pride Month in letter to the editor