Bodies-in-Bloom

‘The desert…will blossom’ (Is. 35:1).

Between a garden profuse with exotically colored peonies and a houseful of saints celebrating together the good news of their sexuality, I realized Easter afresh with the Living Waters team of Portland, Oregon. Sin—addiction, abuse, rainbow profiling—couldn’t bind up the bloom of true man and womanhood. I thought to myself: ‘Jesus is alive: in this garden. In these 30 being-healed healers. And in Bridgetown Church that surrounds them.’

Hosts Morgan and Karen Davis invited my daughter Katie and me to bless this extraordinary community. After nearly a decade of breaking ground, sowing, pulling up weeds, and tending to a diverse garden of saints, the Davises now reap the benefits of pouring themselves out. Their preparation? A marriage that nearly buckled under the weight of homosexual sin, and a long process of restoration. Together with able assistance from Bethany Allen (associate pastor), the Davises assumed a prophetic, pastoral burden for Bridgetown Church. Senior Pastor Tyler Staton made a way for them.     

Tyler is unmatched as a fearless leader intent on raising up the foundations native to every congregant at Bridgetown. Working with wisemen like Christopher West and Morgan Davis, Tyler created a discipleship tool—‘The Good News about Our Bodies’—that he is rolling out carefully to engage the entire church. It is a massive undertaking, glorious in summoning what is most authentic about every Bridgetown member—each unrepeatable and made in Jesus’ image, male or female.

Portland prides itself on individual liberties, with the rainbow flag flying the highest. Bridgetown surpasses such freedom by helping reconcile persons to their truest selves.

Living Waters, now quite a force to be reckoned with at Bridgetown, provides the prophetic witness for Tyler’s pastoral vision. This I discerned among the peonies and these 30+ leaders. Humbled by sin and misdirected pride, raised by mercy alone, these healers fuel Tyler’s commitment to pastoring a sexually whole church. Bridgetown has authority to shift how a city defines sexual liberty.

Thanks, Morgan and Karen, Bethany and Tyler. Thank you, Jesus, for never agreeing with our sin but summoning instead our dignity from its debasement. We bloom in the tender light of Your love.

‘All will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God’ (Is. 35:2).