Daring to Act

Hey Sacred Place Family,

I’m back with you this Sunday, rested and glad to be home, ready to be in the room together again.

I come back in the middle of Pride, and I won’t pretend the season feels uncomplicated this year. You’ve seen what I’ve seen: the bills, the rollbacks, the steady drumbeat of people in power deciding that some of us are a problem to be managed. And not somewhere far off, either. In Chino, in Rancho, in our own backyard, where school boards and city halls have made queer and trans kids the battleground. And still we light the candles. Still we hang the flags. Still we gather as family and call it holy, because it is. I’ve been sitting with what it means to celebrate defiantly—to insist on joy not as denial but as resistance—and I want to sit with it alongside you.

This Sunday we’re in Ruth 3, week three of Found Family. It’s a chapter about daring to act when the safe thing would be to wait. I think it has something to say to exactly this moment. Come find out with me.

We’re back to our usual rhythm: coffee beforehand, and we gather at 11:00 AM Pacific, in the room and online. Bring your whole self; bring someone who needs a place. There’s room for you here—there always has been.

Grace and peace, Pastor Matthew