Proclaim member Rev. Susan Halvor participated in the Alaska Pride Parade celebration this weekend.  Susan lives in Anchorage, Alaska and is the Chaplain at Providence Alaska Medical Center.  Proclaim is the professional community for Lutheran pastors, rostered lay leaders and seminarians who publicly identify as LGBTQ.  There are currently 132 members of Proclaim.

Proclaim members live in all parts of the United States! Check the Summer issue of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries the Mission for a map of Proclaim members locations.

Susan wrote about the parade on the blog Alaska Pride in a piece entitled “Called to Be Our State of Pride.” Selections below:

But what is even more powerful to me is the number of people I don’t know, who come up to me each year, thanking me for my presence as a pastor, and as a female pastor, offering public witness. So many of us have been hurt by the church, and I long, as much as I can be, to be a sign of healing and hope. My Lutheran (and interfaith) colleagues provide that sign for me, that a new day is coming.

May we continue to grow as a community of diverse people, set apart for our courage to love the people we love, whoever they are, and to boldly be ourselves, whoever that is we’re called to be. We are signs of hope in a world that longs for it.

Read the full blog here.