Communion

[nickiem83]

Greetings everyone.  I am having a huge internal struggle with taking communion.  Being male to me doesn't feel right, being female does.  However I am soo used to being told that it is a sin to be trans, that I can't bring myself to take communion.  I don't feel like I am sinning being myself but several passages state that I am.  I grew up in Methodist/and Southern Baptist and have recently switched to Episcopalian.

I guess my hang up is I am not repentant about being who I am even if it is a sin.  If it is not a sin, then I have nothing to repent for, but if I am a sinner then I am unrepentant.  Does any of this make sense?  I want to take communion, but I don't want to repent for being me.  Should I take communion, I want to, but if I am an unrepentant sinner than I shouldn't.  I don't feel like a sinner I just feel like I am stuck. 

[elkie-t]

Greetings everyone.  I am having a huge internal struggle with taking communion.  Being male to me doesn't feel right, being female does.  However I am soo used to being told that it is a sin to be trans, that I can't bring myself to take communion.  I don't feel like I am sinning being myself but several passages state that I am.  I grew up in Methodist/and Southern Baptist and have recently switched to Episcopalian.

I guess my hang up is I am not repentant about being who I am even if it is a sin.  If it is not a sin, then I have nothing to repent for, but if I am a sinner then I am unrepentant.  Does any of this make sense?  I want to take communion, but I don't want to repent for being me.  Should I take communion, I want to, but if I am an unrepentant sinner than I shouldn't.  I don't feel like a sinner I just feel like I am stuck.

Being a trans is not a sin. Lying to god and hiding from the people who you are  might be considered one. If you cannot be open in church about yourself, screw the church One doesn't need to go to church to be a good person and even a good Christian.

[FreyaG]

What the previous respondent said is true.  Being trans is not a sin.  As for screwing the church?  I'm a trans woman and an Episcopalian, and recently I was sitting together with a wonderful Presbyterian pastor and I was telling her how I had come across a posting on a different board where the person asked, Can I pray as a transgender person?  She and I cried together just thinking about that, and she was angry and sad that the church had created the need for that person to have to ask that question.

But, right now I just want you to travel back in time to when we used to use the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  Every Sunday, right before Communion, we heard the following:  Come unto me, all ye that travail and are heavily laden, and I will refresh you.

My dear dear sister:  That is what Jesus is saying to you at Communion.  And it gets even better.  When you receive Communion, listen with your heart and you will hear God say to you, You are my very very beloved daughter, in whom I am most well pleased. 

With all the love in my heart, and a whole bunch more,

Freya