On Sunday, 24th May at 4pm (GMT) we will gather on Facebook Live (or on YouTube) for our Pride Online Worship Gathering. Even though can’t meet together physically this year, we still want to take this Sunday to celebrate together God’s overwhelming love and inclusion of LGBTQ+ people.

Afterwards, you might want to pop over to Birmingham Digital Pride (streaming all afternoon on their social media) OR you can join one of our Zoom discussion groups at 5:15 (details at the bottom). You can follow along with the running order below and find any links that you need.

Welcome to Inclusive Gathering Birmingham

Song (IGB Band) – This is Me

Welcome, again (Danielle)

Song (Ali & Ellie) – You Say

Prayer (Ethan) – **If you are someone who prays, feel free to join in. Otherwise, you can just listen to the words.**

Faithful God,
Who calls each of us into a radical inclusion of love,
Keep us in the knowledge that,
Just as you placed the colours in the rainbow,
You created each one of us to stand out proud
And that in all things
God is God and
Love is Love,
Amen

Story: What does Pride mean to you? (Kerry)

Song (Ali & Ellie): How Deep the Father’s Love for Us

Reading (Jayson):

Love never gives up.

Love cares more for others than for self.

Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.

Love doesn’t strut,

Doesn’t have a swelled head,

Doesn’t force itself on others,

Isn’t always “me first,”

Doesn’t fly off the handle,

Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,

Doesn’t revel when others grovel,

Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

Puts up with anything,

Trusts God always,

Always looks for the best,

Never looks back,

But keeps going to the end.

Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.”[1 Corinthians 13:4-13 (The Message edition of the Bible)]

ZOOM COMMUNITY GROUPS … At 5:15 we will move over to Zoom to chat about some of the themes from today. If you are in a regular Inclusive Gathering Community Group, you can join your group. If you are not, please pop in to any of the groups below by clicking the link – there’s plenty of room. If you enjoy the chat, you are very welcome to meet up with your group again, later in the week. If there isn’t a group near you, that’s okay – join whichever one. You can read more about Community Groups here:

Edgbaston Community Group (Pete & Eunice – also meets Mondays – FULL)

Coventry Community Group(Ali & Ellie – also meets Mondays)

Moseley Community Group(Danielle & Joel – also meets Tuesdays)

West Brum Community Group – (Adam & Rachel – also meets Thursdays)

(Our Summerfield/ Winson Green group meets on Tuesdays and our Worcester Community Group meets on monthly Saturdays – but neither gather on a Sunday evening. So if you are in one of those groups usually, join the West Brum group tonight.)

Here’s the questions the groups will be discussing this evening:

• Where have you seen glimpses of beauty this week?
• If you feel comfortable sharing, what have been the difficult moments this week?
• Was there anything that stood out to you from the reflections today? What challenged you? What encouraged you?