You’ve worked your way through Where True Love Is, gotten to know each other a whole lot better as a group, and hopefully explored scripture in a way you haven’t before. This final wrap-up meeting will allow us to speak with the author herself and reflect back on the questions asked at the kickoff meeting. Let’s see how much our answers shifted during this study. What actions are you going to take to help increase LGBTQIA+ inclusion and affirmation in the church.

Thank you for your candor, thoughtfulness, and honoring of the sacred space this group represents.

What Does It Take To Get To Heaven?

The final week of devotions looks at what it takes to be saved.

Sexuality and marriage continue to be discussed, along with passages about Sodom and Gomorrah.

Sexuality And Marriage

In the first week of this topic area, an initial exploration of marriage in the scriptures is offered.

Male and Female, God Created Them

This topic explores the issue of gender from the context of scripture.

What Does Jesus Ask Us To Do?

Until this point, the book has focused on things Jesus warns against, but all that shifts starting with this section. Devotions in this topic area focus on statements Jesus made about what God wants from us.

Who Does Jesus Condemn and Why?

Previous topics revealed that Jesus was quite a rebel, and was radically inclusive. However, he did chastise people with some regularity. This topic explored who those people were.

Can A Sinner Be Christian?

This topic area dispels the notion that someone cannot be Christian and yet sin.

NOTE: The existence of this topic does not imply LGBTQIA+ sinfulness. The book as a whole is an answer to that question, which the author vehemently belives otherwise. It’s included because the idea of Christians not sinning is frequently brought up by non-affirming people of faith. LGBTQIA+ people as a group are neither more nor less sinful than any other group, but the idea of Christian sinlessness nevertheless needs to be dispelled.

Jesus As Fulfillment Of The Law

Many people who use the Bible as a basis for excluding LGBTQIA+ folks repeat Jesus’ reality that he has done the fulfilling. The devotional’s last section on the Law examines how Jesus fulfills it, through his time on earth and on the cross.

Law As Problematic

This topic area examined scriptures which describe problems related to the Law along with Jesus’ words about those problems.

Jesus As Lawbreaker

This topic area looked at a few examples of Jesus doing things which went against Jewish Law.

In this section, the examination of scripture continued, with a variety of examples of contradictory scriptures, and some closing thoughts about inerrancy and about using the Bible as an icon rather than making it into an idol.

The week’s readings examine a variety of characteristics of scripture, including the idea that they are only truly openable by Jesus, that they are capable of giving wisdom, that they are not capable of giving us eternal life, that they are living and active, that they can be safely debate, and that some passages are more important than others.

Who Is God?

The study begins with an evaluation of who God is, because every other question of faith hinges on that essential truth. The week’s readings covered the idea that God is love, a parent and giver of good gifts, the light of the world, server of breakfast, like us in every respect, our judge, and bearer of a holy name.