Day 1: The Faithful Love of the Lord Hasn’t Ended | 2024 Pre-Conference Devotional
Written by Aiden Nathaniel Diaz.
Every year, we release devotionals to prepare our hearts for Conference. As an organization that has individuals with various identities from various faith traditions all over the world, we recognize that we all have different starting points when it comes to renewal and how we interpret our Conference scripture, Lamentations 3:22-23 CEB:
Certainly the faithful love of the Lord hasn’t ended; certainly God’s compassion isn’t through! They are renewed every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
Many of us come to Conference with broken hearts: we have been kicked out of our churches; we have survived conversion efforts; we bear witness to words and deeds of genocide playing out in real time; we struggle with finances; we have been abandoned, belittled, or abused. In a world filled with suffering, it can feel like a leap of faith to assert that the faithfulness of God has not ended.
We know that the world is also filled with other things: joy, peace, connection, and love. How can we shift our perspective to experience the goodness of God?
We need a restart, a way to move forward, renewal–especially when we struggle to feel God’s love or even God’s presence. But just like a fire can be rekindled, we can trust that every day is a new day, a new chance to feel and love again, a new chance to reimagine and work towards a world with love at its center.
As an organization, we are celebrating our 20th Conference. Q Christian Fellowship has changed so much since that first gathering in 2004. God is always breathing new life into our organization, always bringing in new voices, perspectives and ideas. As a community leaning into God’s love for us, we know that even at 20 years since its inception, there is more ahead of us than we can even imagine.
On a more personal note, this year’s Conference scripture challenges me: if I have God’s faithful love, shouldn’t I also be faithfully loving myself? I struggle with this. I am in a place of learning what self care looks like after finishing grad school (and working 60+ hours a week at the same time!). I am navigating this thing called a work/life balance that people think does not exist in ministry. (I digress.) When I talk about self care, I do not mean the face masks, bubble baths, massages, and manicures that social media pushes us towards. Psychiatrist Pooja Lakshmin, MD defines REAL Self-Care (in her book by the same name) as boundary setting, compassionate self-talk, identifying personal values, and asserting your power. Are these not forms of faithful love? Are these not things we too can renew every morning?
We need to be reminded of God’s love. We need reassurance that the Lord faithfully loves us with each and every breath that we take, even when we feel like we have misstepped, life has gotten hard, and we feel like we haven’t “measured up”. May Conference be this reminder for you. Surrounded by community, may you feel assured that the faithful love of the Lord has not ended and is alive and well in each of us, each and every day.
I invite you to join me in a brief prayer:
Oh Divine One, your love is never ending and nothing can separate us from that love. No matter what anybody else says, your love is here for me. Just as it is there for my neighbor. May we feel your love no matter where we may find ourselves. Renew us each and every day as we breathe new life into one another.
Amen.
Join us for Conference!
Have you registered for the 2024 Renewal Conference?
This is your chance! The Q Christian Fellowship Conference is an annual gathering where LGBTQ+ Christians, parents, and allies: gather for worship, fellowship, workshops, and keynote speakers; make lifelong friendships or reunite with those friends; experience healing, transformation, and hope; witness the fullness of God's love and affirmation through each other.
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