Dear Beloved Community,
I’ve shared with you before about how a city’s Pride festival has had such a tug on my heart over the years. To take a Christian witness of love into spaces where the Christian witness has been stained with hate is nothing short of grace. Our presence at Pride grows out of the shape of our church’s obedience to God, an expression of how we understand our role as a beloved community of faith, hope, and love in the heart of the city.
Our morning began on the front lawn with dozens of other church folk from around town, there to walk in the parade. Friends from Knollwood Baptist, Peacehaven Baptist, Augsburg Lutheran, and Green Street Methodist filled the lawn with excitement and color, as we shared the joy of the day together. We’ve done this twice now, so obviously it’s an annual tradition at this point!
Nearly 70 of us from First on Fifth marched together in the parade this year, sharing God’s good news with the 60,000 attendees. We received applause and gratitude, which of course isn’t about us, but rather about that hunger and appreciation for a different Christian witness. After the parade, all throughout the day, a steady stream of visitors stopped by our booth. They received little gifts of fans, pencils, stickers and your affirmations and prayers. Two mirrors were set up on either side of the booth, with the words “you are looking at the image of God” written atop, and time and time again, we watched expressions soften as visitors read those words. A number of us had some of the most meaningful conversations with folks who stopped by. We heard stories of church hurt and exclusion, gratitude for what our church means in the community, and cautious interest to come and see First Baptist on Fifth. We talked theology and biblical interpretation, offered pastoral care, and gave big hugs. In her volunteer shift, Bethany Leggett may have even convinced one person to go to seminary!
Once again, our broader community showed up in the neighborhood on Saturday, and it was a profound gift to step out of these beautiful walls and halls to join in the celebration! Thanks to Mary Kaylor and Olena Withrow for their organizational leadership and to Ryan Jones for his storytelling, and to ALL who made it possible: bringing breakfast goodies, setting up tables on the lawn, making coffee, extending hospitality to our friends from other churches, designing t-shirts and gifts and banners, walking in the parade, photographing our experience, sharing love at our booth – and setting it up and taking it down too!, and opening even wider the doors of the church for God’s people to flow through.
Together in God’s work of Love,
Pastor Emily
PS – I hope you’re making plans to share in worship with us on June 29! We’ll welcome our friend, Rev. Dr. Bill Leonard, to the pulpit as part of our series on Baptist identity. Dr. Leonard is one of this world’s very best Baptist historians and shapers of Baptist life, and as founding and former Dean of the Wake Forest School of Divinity, we are so very fortunate that he’s here in our community! You won’t want to miss it.