A church with a mission (+ 4 podcasts on human sexuality, faith, and music!)

A late night in a foreign country where I don't know that many people, I'm entertaining myself after evening prayer by making chicken soup, drinking some red wine, and surfing the net for progressive Christian podcasts.

It's easy to get lonely on such nights. It's easy to start thinking about what work one needs to do, about one's professional career, about the state of politics in the world. On a good night, I tune in to God; I go to evensong at one of the wonderful chapels. But on most nights I find myself aimlessly looking for the remnants of sociable human company, whether my mother's online or my friends are on AIM, what my friends have blogged on their personal sites; who's emailed me lately, and who's called.

What a blessing it is when one opens up the laptop, gazes out over reams of blogosphere, and finds someone who one considers a true friend, without having even met them.

That's exactly the shivery feeling I got when I came across Christ Community Church, a stringently progressive, Biblically-based, uninhibitedly political, interdenominational church in Spring Lake, Michigan.

Telling the story of his friend, another minister, who was saved after having attempted suicide because of his sexuality, the executive minister, Rev. Ian Lawton, preaches:

"I'm now of the view that one of the primary functions of the church is to accept people and to celebrate the various sexual journeys that they're on.
"I'm now of the view that sexuality is such an important part of the human experience, that to deny someone their sexuality is to deny them access to spirit; is to deny them access to God.
"And woe to any church that out of its own fears and prejudices would deny them access to God. Woe to that church.
"That is dangerous territory. This is not just about accepting gay and lesbian people; that's just the tip of the iceberg."

I encourage you to check out their podcasts for yourself.

• Rev. Beth, a United Methodist minister, gives short talks to young adults on money without avarice, sexual pleasure without fear, and diversity, at Pod Gospel, broadcast through the University of Pennsylvania Center for Christianity.
• More chicken soup for the soul tonight: the The Purple Pew now has a queer Christian woman's podcast, protesting how Catholic priest child abuse has been blamed on gays. We look forward to hearing more from her!
• Whosoever, the online magazine for queer Christians, also now has its first podcast out about God's unconditional love for every individual, regardless of their sexual identity. They interview half a dozen queer Christians about their experiences and outreach. A gay Christian dating site has just launched at gayharmony.net! ooo, and there's an *amazing* interview with Emily of the Indigo Girls and her Dad, as they discuss how being a Christian makes them listen more carefully to music of ethnic and cultural groups they might not pay attention to otherwise.

By the way, this IS an exciting moment. In the last month or so, the podcast and internet radio world -- stuffed with Religious Right evangelists with laptops -- has started to hear more voices that sound like down-to-earth, well-meaning, social-justice oriented people of faith. The more podcasts are out there, the better advertised they are, the better the chance that the discerning Christian or confused teenager or despairing adult, surfing the web for a message of faith, will find that message of hope, inclusion, and kindness.

CrossLeft salutes Christ Community Church, The Purple Pew, and Whosoever for their fine work! We're listening over here. Keep the podcasts going!