Sharing God’s love at York Pride

Before we fully embrace the longer nights and look ahead to Advent and Christmas, we take a moment to look back at one of the many stories of Living Christ’s Story across our diocese this summer.

Christians at Pride

Here, the Revd Anika Gardener reflects on Christians at Pride in York, and on what it means to be a Christian presence rooted in welcoming and solidarity.

Saturday 30 May saw thousands of people take to the streets to participate in York Pride. Sponsors, community groups, charities, schools, and individuals walked from the city centre to the Knavesmire, with CaPiY (Christians at Pride in York) in the midst of it.

There has been a Christian presence at Pride for a number of years now, and it was brilliant to see Christians from different churches and denominations from York and beyond taking part. As well as carrying the big banner during the parade, we once again had a stall at the Knavesmire.

The idea behind it is to have a positive Christian presence at Pride: talking to people, listening, and generally being part of this important celebration. At the stall, there was an art project that people could add their names to, which hundreds of people did, as well as some ‘God loves you’ pins for people to take. Those involved with the stall also had some meaningful conversations with people.

One conversation I was told about particularly stood out to me. Someone had been so hurt by Christians in the past that, upon learning our stall was run by Christians, they walked away. We had plenty of positive reactions, and people were genuinely appreciative of us being there, but this story broke my heart and is precisely why we are doing this.

Obviously, we’d love to be able to say that we had a chat with the person and they left happier. That’s not what happened. As Christians, we have a part to play: to be allies, to stand in solidarity with our siblings, and to celebrate together, so that hopefully those heartbreaking stories will one day be stories of the past and, instead, we will hear stories of radical welcome.

In the meantime, we continue to be a joyful, positive presence, sharing the love of God.