November 21, 2021 - Reign of Christ and Celebration of Yesterday's International Transgender Day of Remembrance

In today's Gospel Pilate does not know to ask the pertinent questions to Jesus. "Are you King of the Jews?", Am I? (a Jew?) and "What have you done?" will be three questions that are focuses of his three trials and the answers are revealing but do not reveal what each questioner is asking. Caiaphas worries Jesus has pretensions of being a Jewish leader. Pilate is asking if he is the right authority to judge Jesus and King Herod ultimately wants him to prove who he is by doing something. All of them miss the point.

The service focused primarily on yesterday's official International Transgender Day of Remembrance. 71 candles were lit and stories told about people transgender people who had died over the past year. 

Luka told the stories as we watched pictures of each individual, which made Creator's Transgender Remembrance today truly meaningful. What Luka contributed to us all with his experience, perspective and heart added a dimension to the experience. Just the amount of the stories we heard about each of these people both made them individuals and, at the same time, bound them together as a group.

 

Pastor Janell and Kim, as assisting minister, gave prayers and lighted a candle for each individual. Seeing all the lit candles at the end was beautiful but called up mixed emotions with the reflections of what they represented.

The whole service was moving. And, thankfully, we did remember.