This Psalm was written for our Open Table service for All Saints Day, 1st Nov 2020, by community member Zach Ford
Read MoreAnd there is no limit to the Lord’s memory.
It traces your each atom from end to end of Time,
Every one the more beloved,
Because what they make is you.
Tonight, as we recall our trans siblings who have died in the past year, many in violent circumstances, it is fitting that we celebrate the Eucharist, in the hope that Christ will transform our poor bodies that they may become like his glorious body, according to the mighty working whereby he will gather up all things into the orbit of his mercy and love.
Read MoreReflection by Revd Laura Ferguson, Team Vicar, on Matthew 22.15-22
Ultimatums are tricky aren’t they. Just two choices lying before you; the high road or the low road? The wide path or the narrow. Fight or flight? It seems like whether in Jesus’ time or today, there will always be people who try to enforce binaries.
Read MoreEvery year Open Table our LGBTQIA+ worship community celebrates National Coming Out Day in their October Communion service. As part of our celebration we’ll use this wonderful Litany of Coming Out, adapted from Courage to Love: Liturgies for the LGBT Community by Geoffrey Duncan.
Read MoreTHIS MORNING, one of the new Patrons of the Open Table Network, Rachel Mann, led BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Worship on the theme of ‘Urban Harvest’, and invited Kieran, the Network Co-ordinator to share a short reflection.
Read MoreReflection by Warren Hartley, LGBTQIA+ Ministry Facilitator, on Matthew 18:15-20
‘Let’s challenge the church, call out its sins to our community and to us as individuals. We too are the part of the body of Christ and He is present with us now as we gather.’
Read MoreWarren Hartley’s sermon on church as a Listening Community from Sunday 9th August, part of our August series ‘What is Church?’
Read MoreLilly (She/Her) is the University Mission Chaplaincy Assistant for St Luke in the City Parish, working with students from Liverpool John Moores University and University of Liverpool.
Lilly reflects on her experience of leading the Open Table Liverpool community in a creative evening Prayer service on the theme of spiritual nourishment.
Read MoreThe Revd Alan Brooks led Open Table’s online service on Sunday 19th July ahead of what would have been the Pride in Liverpool festival on 25th July 2020. The reading was Mark 6:30-34, 53 to end.
Read MoreReflection by Warren Hartley, LGBTQIA+ Ministry Facilitator at St Bride’s on Matthew 11:16-19, 25 to end.
It was a quite a delight to see today’s gospel reading come around. It is one I’ve reflected on a lot over the past 14 years since I returned to the Christian faith.
Read MoreDuring lockdown our Open Table community has continued to gather on Zoom for worship and to keep in touch. On Sunday 3rd May, Warren Hartley, LGBTQIA+ Ministry Facilitator at St Bride’s, shared this reflection on Psalm 23 and John 10:1-10 .
Read MoreIN 1984, charismatic preacher Billy Graham came to Liverpool at the invitation of local churches as part of a six-date tour called Mission England. This June, his son Franklin intends to come to the city, though the venue has withdrawn the booking, as have all seven of the other UK venues on his planned tour.
Read MoreFor the past three years, the Open Table LGBT+ Christian community based at St Bride’s has coordinated the Christians At Pride group in the Liverpool march.
Read MoreA reflection on Easter Sunday by the Revd Mark Waters, Team Vicar at St Dunstan’s Church at communion service of Open Table, our ecumenical worship community for LGBTQIA+ Christians and friends, on Sunday 21st April 2019.
Read MoreA reflection on the Wedding at Cana Story. Revd Canon Bob Lewis from St Margaret’s Toxteth and Canon of Liverpool Cathedral led Open Table, our ecumenical worship community for LGBTQIA+ Christians and friends service on Sunday 20th and offered this reflection.
Read MoreAnd the word was made flesh……hmmm mmm for me, as a poet, the idea of the word made flesh fills me with the same kind of radiant warmth that I guess you may experience at the end of the service when the first mouthful of hot soup or mulled wine warms you up deep inside mmmm.
Read MoreWarren Hartley, our LGBTQIA+ Ministry Facilitator preached at a service for National Coming Out Day last month at St John’s United Reformed Church in Warrington. Here he shares his thoughts in a blog post adapted from the sermon.
Read MoreTHIS was the reflection at the Post-Pride Chillout Service in the Lady Chapel of Liverpool Cathedral to mark the end of Liverpool Pride on Sunday 29th July 2018:
Read MoreA reflection on the parable of the mustard seed (Mark 4:26-34) by poet Cate Jacobs, author of Climbing Mountains in the Dark which evokes her experience of living with HIV, at the tenth birthday communion service of Open Table, our ecumenical worship community for LGBTQIA+ Christians and friends, on Sunday 17th June.
Read MoreLAST MONTH, at the launch of a new charity whose aim is to tackle prejudice and discrimination on the grounds of sexuality and gender in religious organisations, Bishop of Liverpool Paul Bayes spoke of his 'pain and regret' at the rejection and harm many LGBTI+ people have experienced personally and institutionally from Christians, writes Open Table network coordinator Kieran Bohan:
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