James Neal hopes those who attend Holy Cross Enid and Enid Faith Ways' Pride service will walk away knowing that they are loved.

The seminarian at Holy Cross already has begun working on his reflection and will be preaching a message of love, celebration and acceptance at the Sunday afternoon service.

"I think the most important message is really in two parts: that sexual orientation and gender identity are not a sin regardless of where you fall in that spectrum because they are of God's creation — they are of God's design," Neal said, "and that you are, or should be, not just accepted but embraced and celebrated as God's children, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity."

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The Pride service will be at 2 p.m. Sunday, June 27, at St. Stephen's, 701 E. Park. A meal at 1 p.m. will precede the service, and light refreshments will be available after the service.

Neal said that although this is the church's first Pride service in conjunction with Pride Month, all of its services are a celebration of people "who have been marginalized, excluded and hurt by other churches or Christianity as a whole."

"Christ always gravitated towards those who were pushed aside by the rest of society, and we try to follow that example," Neal said.

Neal said the reason for the Pride service was because there are "few places in the area where people are affirmed as Christians and as members of the LGBTQ community."

"Our church has a very high percentage of LGBTQ members who came from Enid Faith Ways or who have since joined us because they needed a place where they weren't just accepted, but were truly embraced and celebrated," Neal said. "We should celebrate who they are and how God created them, and that really is the way that I view it as a lay minister, as a seminarian and as someone who, God willing, will be ordained an Old Catholic priest."

The church will be decorated with a Pride theme for the service, and Neal said all people, whether they are Christian or not and regardless of denomination, are welcome.

The service will be streamed on Holy Cross' Facebook page and Neal's YouTube channel.

"Rainbow Madonna" will be dedicated at the service. "Rainbow Madonna" is an LGBTQ adaptation of Black Madonna, the famous icon of the Virgin Mary with baby Jesus inside a shrine of the Jasna Gora Monastery in the southern city of Czestochowa, Poland, Neal said.

Those in attendance will be given the opportunity to express any way they feel like they have been hurt or pushed aside — to express any feelings, really, Neal said.

"I hope that they will take that they are loved, and that we feel and appreciate the pain that has been caused to a lot of LGBTQ people by Christianity, and that there is a place for them to celebrate both their sexuality and their faith," Neal said.

Kelci McKendrick is police and court reporter for the Enid News & Eagle.

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