722 N. 145th St. | Shoreline, WA 98133

Hope Born from Suffering: An evening of healing through stories

Dear friends,

What do you love?
What have you lost?
Where does it hurt?
What do you dream?

These questions are an invitation to healing and to building relationship across divisions. These questions are an opportunity to be heard, to be understood, to be reconciled, and to find hope.

So many of us have been hurt by the church, and by people in the church, around issues of human sexuality and gender identity. With these four questions, we are launching a season of invitation, hope, and reconciliation. We want to create a safe place for those who have felt rejected, or judged, or hurt by their church, to be heard and appreciated as beloved children of God. We want to create a safe place for those who have struggled with dogmatic theologies that separate us from one another to find a more loving, Godly way.

On Wednesday, November 17th, at 7:00 PM, we will present a remarkable story of love, loss, resurrection, and transformation. Linda Robertson will share her family’s story of their son Ryan, who came out to them as gay as a middle schooler. As active members of a conservative, evangelical congregation, they struggled with this revelation. They did their best to reconcile their evangelical Christian beliefs, but eventually Ryan ran away, became addicted to drugs, and denounced God and his family. That’s not the end of the story. This is a story of struggle, loss, reconciliation, and resurrection.

Linda Robertson tells their family story in a personal, vulnerable way, and shares their journey from the strict beliefs that drove Ryan away to their powerful, transforming experience of the all-encompassing love of God. Linda’s story has been published in the Huffington Post and is shared at their web site, Just Because He Breathes. She comes to St. Dunstan’s Church as a part of our story sharing series seeking to bring people together in love.

With Love,

David+