Northern Lights MCC
  • Home
  • Who We Are
    • Mission Values
    • History
    • Who's Who
    • 5 Year Plan
  • What We Believe
    • Bedrock Beliefs
    • LGBT People and the Bible
    • Our Denomination
  • What We Do
    • Sunday Worship
    • Families and Children >
      • Family Service Portal
    • Personal and Spiritual Development
    • Pastoral Care >
      • Suicide Prevention
    • Social Action
    • Social Events
  • What's On?
    • Calendar
    • Coronovirus and NLMCC
    • Home Group Resources
    • Trans Day of Remembrance
  • Catch Up
    • Our Podcast
    • Catch Up Archive
    • Church Blog
    • Video Recordings of services
  • Support Us
  • Social Media Policy

Make Yourself at Home

12/11/2014

0 Comments

 
As many of you know, Northern Lights MCC runs a joint project with MESMAC called Rainbow Home. It is a monthly lunch for LGBT people who are seeking asylum in the UK. Rainbow Home is a safe space for fun, food and conversation.  The individuals who helped us start the group chose “Rainbow” to reflect the LGBT nature of the group and “Home” because they wanted it to be a safe and comfortable place. Group members take it in turn to cook, so there is a taste of “home” each month. Those who come to the group have fled from countries where homosexuality is punishable by law; they have often experienced violence, persecution and sometimes imprisonment. Home is no longer a safe place for them to be, and they have left everything to come to the UK, in search of sanctuary. When individuals arrive in this country, they are faced with the task of proving to the Home Office that they are lesbian, bisexual or gay and that their lives are in danger if they return to their country of origin.

How do you prove you are gay? Or straight? Or bisexual? Imagine that. You are in a foreign country, perhaps speaking a language that is not your own. You have had to actively hide your sexuality in your country of origin. You have fled home with hardly any belongings. And now, in a court of law, under very intense scrutiny, you are being asked to prove that you are gay. How do you even go about doing that? If the judge believes you, you then also have to prove that you would be fear of your life if you went back to your country of origin. Being part of a worldwide denomination has been helpful in this regard. We have been able to get statements from MCCers and allies who work or who live in some of the countries where Rainbow Home folk come from and submit them as part of the documentation that goes to court. These statements show clearly what life is like for LGBT people in a particular country and have been instrumental in helping individuals get their “leave to remain” status.

Matthew 25:34 – 36 gives a list of how we are meant to behave as Christians: offer food and drink to the hungry, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, visit those who are sick or in prison. It often feels as though my life is a world away from these basic yet vital instructions. I send emails, sort out rotas, discuss budgets and write reports. I give a monthly donation to Oxfam, but I don’t notice it going out of the bank – it just happens. I love Rainbow Home because, for me, it gives an opportunity to really do what Jesus asked of us. That is blessing enough for me.

God bless

Cecilia

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Hope & Light Blog

    Follow the church on Twitter

    Archives

    December 2019
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

    Contact us

Submit

About us

Who We Are
What We Believe
What We Do
Whats On?


Follow, tweet and talk to us!

Worship with us Sunday 6.30pm
ONLINE VIA FACEBOOK AND YOUTUBE


Email: contact@northernlightsmcc.org.uk
Phone: 07770543407



Social Media Contribution Guidance


Registered Charity Number 1093009
Website designed by Carly Steven 
Logo and branding designed by Naomi Neilson