Members of a GLBT Bible study at Foundry United Methodist Church talk about their experiences being both gay and ChristianBree Tracey (MNS)
There are good days and bad days. For Tricia Yarrow, it was a bad day. She found out her father had Crohn’s disease. She was mad at God but regained her faith one evening at Foundry United Methodist Church.
Yarrow attends a gay bible study (or GLBT bible study), held once a week. She no longer lives in the Washington, D.C. area but lately she has been visiting home a lot to visit her father. Her faith wavered when she learned her father took a turn for the worse.
“I’m not going lie. It’s been really hard,” said Yarrow. “We’re human and we’re allowed to lose faith and we’re allowed to cross that line where we’re angry. I’m working on anger right now. I’m so mad at God.”
Yarrow has struggled with being both Christian and gay. Her mother, a minister, went with Yarrow to visit a church where gay men and women study the Bible.
“I finally worked up the nerve after a few months to come and check it out,” Yarrow said.
The GLBT Bible study was started by Daniel Dodgen in 2006. He still leads group discussions and tries to relate lessons and passages in the bible to the experience of being gay.
“A lot of us recognized that there’s a need for something like this. For a group where people could talk about spiritual issues in the bible, but from the perspective of gay men and women,” he said.
Once a month the group hosts social events where they get to know one another.
It allows members to get to know each another as friends, said Will Rumble who was introduced to the GLBT Bible study by his boyfriend.
About 10 people attend each session.
A topic that often comes up is gay marriage. Many in the group say there is no specific passage in the Bible that condemns being gay or gay marriage.
“I have not seen any places that have said a man and a woman can’t be married,” said Rumble.”The most interesting passage that I think is the one form the Old Testament. The wedding vows that are actually exchanged between a man and a woman were actually first exchanged between a man and a woman in the Old Testament and I think it’s really interesting to take a look at that as far as saying what can and cannot be done within the bond of marriage.”
Yarrow points out that people who pick one bible verse to condemn gay marriage don’t follow other verses.
“It also says that women need to cover their hair in church and that women should not talk church,” she said. “There are so many verses we don’t obey because either because when Jesus came he said they no longer exist.”
Despite struggling with her faith, Yarrow believes strongly in the Christian religion.
“I think that people need to stop judging us by labels,” said Yarrow. “If they are going to use a label, use Christian because that’s what we all are.”