Pride Month: Resources for Worship
by Katie Graber and Anneli Loepp Thiessen
During the month of June, many churches will celebrate pride month as a way to honor the presence, gifts, and leadership of LGBTQIA2+ people within their communities. There are many resources in Voices Together that can be particularly powerful additions to these worship services.
In the Topics and Uses in Worship Index, there are relevant entries including “Unity in Diversity” and “Justice.” In addition, people from the Anabaptist Worship Network Facebook group suggested the following songs and worship resources:
1 - Summoned By the God Who Made Us
First song in Voices Together, calls us to “sing a new church into being.” Verse two speaks of “every person in God’s image, every person God’s delight.”
36 - Let Us Build a House/All Are Welcome
A Catholic folk classic, an anthem of welcome. The final verse calls for us to build a house “where all are named, their songs and visions heard.”
42 - Could It Be that God is Singing
A new text by Mennonite poet Becca Lachmann that invites singers to see God in themselves and others, and to respond to God’s light and breath through song.
156 - There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy
A classic hymn that celebrates God’s expansive love. Verse three sings: “But we make God’s love too narrow by false limits of our own, and we magnify its strictness with a zeal God will not own.”
172 - God Calls You Good
Call to recognize the inherent, God-given goodness in each of us: “God calls me good, beloved child.”
174 - Christ Has Broken Down the Wall
Anthem that calls for us to break down divisions, with verse two proclaiming, “We’re accepted as we are.”
582 - My Love Colours Outside the Lines
An upbeat piece that invites us to explore beyond our familiar boundaries; verse three sings “I want to walk beyond the boundaries where I’ve never been before, throw open doors to worlds outside the lines.”
801 - I’m Gonna Eat at the Welcome Table
A compelling call for justice from the African American tradition, here is more information about its words and history.
802 - Draw the Circle Wide
The simple, yet powerful, lyrics of this song call us to draw the circle wide, and wider still. Each section can be repeated multiple times, proclaiming “Let this be our song: no one stands alone.”
809 - Sing a New World Into Being
Verse two draws on rainbow imagery to imagine the expansiveness of singing a new world into being “... where each gender, class, and race brings its rainbow gifts and colors to God’s limitless embrace.”
856 - Christ is like a single body (WR)
A responsive reading based on 1 Corinthians 12.
862 - You who open doors (WR)
A prayer to God who “opens doors and dismantles barriers.”
1005 - That Huge “Why?” (WR)
A reading that honors doubt and questioning while offering “the incredible risk of love” as a response.
1020 - God of extravagant mercy (WR)
An offering dedication that pledges our monetary gifts and prayers to protest evil and injustice.
1048 - Let the rain come and wash away (WR)
A responsive reading written by Rabbi Harold Kushner that uses nature imagery to ask God to wash away hatred and hurt and bring healing and growth.
There are many resources available beyond Voices Together as well. The Hymn Society produced a collection of songs affirming the LGBTQIA2+ community called Songs for the Holy Other. Mennonite connections to that resource include Cedar Klassen, who was the committee coordinator for the resource, and Adam Tice, who has texts featured in the collection. On Together in Worship, you can find resources from the Brethren Mennonite Council for LGBTQ Interests, including a liturgy for gender transition and a liturgy for pride Sunday.