Rainbow weekend

I'm delighted that something positive has blossomed from the ill advised and poorly named 'festival of hope' happening at my nearby town. To have as it's main attraction a speaker well known for his denigration of Muslims and gay couples, in a place that works hard to ensure all are welcome, makes no sense to me. Happily tho, a whole host of lovely people showed up to proclaim that not all Christians, and not everyone in Blackpool, think it's ok. It was great to be embraced by big Jesus, and to look for decorated pebbles placed earlier in the day by young people declaring #Lancashire4Love

I'm back tonight for a prayer service as part of the rainbow weekend. There's a fantastic article about it here: https://honesttogodweb.wordpress.com/2018/09/19/the-truth-about-the-rainbow-weekend/
If you don't have time for the whole thing, this paragraph sums it up for me:

"...to welcome people that Graham’s brand of Christianity would exclude. Week after week our churches welcome people in God’s name. Week after week we take God’s love into our communities. We include people – often people that some other churches have excluded. We affirm people – again, often when other churches do not affirm them. We respect our Muslim brothers and sisters and engage with them, rather than dismiss them as “evil and very wicked”. For us the Rainbow Weekend is about being ourselves – “doing” church as we always do, to send out a signal that Graham’s brand of intolerant Christianity is not the only one out there."

Great thinking whoever organised for the tower to be lit up with a rainbow :-)