By Wyatt Flicker, Juicy Ecumenism
On June 8, most of the Christian world celebrated Pentecost, the descent of the Holy Spirit and the foundation of the Church. As John Wesley preached, “he shall fill you with the Holy Ghost, inflaming your hearts with that fire of love which many waters cannot quench. And this was done, even with a visible appearance of fire, on the day of Pentecost.”
Some UMC churches spent the day celebrating the arrival of another colorful spirit, instead commemorating “Pride Sunday.” One of these was Zao UMC in Milwaukee, named for the Koine Greek verb ζάω, which means to live or, as the congregation glosses it, “to have true life worthy of the name.”
Pride Sunday at Zao began with a song written by deconstructionist staple Semler, titled “Thank God for That (TGFT),” with the charming refrain, “I’m ****** gay, thank God for that, Christians cast me out, but Jesus had my back.” This performance was followed by a rendition of Beyoncé’s 2022 song “Cozy,” a track dedicated to the colors of the Progress Pride flag, the updated version of the 1978 gay pride flag introduced in 2018 to include new stripes for transgender and people of color representation.
After the hymns and the passing of the peace, the congregation listened to a sermon by the Rev. Jonah Overton, a “queer and trans community organizer” who uses they/them pronouns and both planted and pastors the church with spouse Cameron Overton. Both have long been active in progressive UMC circles, such as UM-Forward, where Cameron was listed as a co-author of the group’s N.E.W. Plan, which aimed to splinter the UMC into four separate denominations over issues of sexuality. Jonah is also a featured guest at the Wild Goose Festival, an annual Religious Left jamboree in North Carolina loosely modeled on the United Kingdom’s much larger Greenbelt Festival.