The following is a critique of a 2020 ‘sermon’ of Gina Helbley’s which was given at First Congregational UCC Portland Church in Oregon. The sermon is titled "Skeletons and Shadows at the Table” (February 24, 2020). It is posted only to trace the line of connection between progressive spirituality and women’s ordination.

Who is Gina Helbley?

She was raised Adventist and went to school at Walla Walla to learn how to be a chaplain. Accompanied by her husband David, she was hired by the Ohio Conference in 2010 to be a special missionary to Ohio State University, Columbus. Before coming to Ohio she served as a Missionary with her husband in Kazakhstan.

She hosted games and dinners in her OSU apartment and led a Bible study on the Gospel of John. She was introduced to ‘Christian mysticism and Spiritual Formation at Raj Attiken’s Innovation Conference in Ohio. She also enjoyed listening to Desmond Ford and doubted the 1844 message. She didn’t care for pastors like Doug Batchelor or Clifford Goldstein or Ted Wilson. She really liked Samir Selmanovic, who spoke at the Innovation Conference numerous times.

She went to masters school for counseling at MTSO in Delaware Ohio before moving back to the Oregon area. Back in Oregon she protested ICE and has been arrested for doing so with other ‘religious leaders’. Today she works in mental health and is a counselor at Cascadia Behavior Healthcare for women who were incarcerated. She also has been ordained by the UCC (United Church of Christ) Portland Church in Oregon. Born Gina, she now goes by the name ‘Grant’ and claims to be genderqueer and homosexual. She has divorced her husband (with two small children) and now claims to be polyamorous, with two women (Levi Helbley and Tobi Kushner).

The Sermon Transcribed

“We will open our hands to the feast without shame and turn toward each other without fear. Thank you Jan for those and Grant for making them come alive, Good morning!

It’s really good to be here with you all today! 28 years of being an open and affirming church Congratulations and thank you. Not only that but you’re a community that knows that everything has to keep changing, you're pretty flexible. First it was gays and lesbians, then bi people. What a scandal they are. I thought you were born that way! And then trans people and then non binary people and they just like reconstructed gender. Everything you thought you knew about male and female. Its time to reconsider it and you’ve rolled with it. And a couple years ago because of you, because of this community I was approved for ordination while [being] openly polyamorous and [I] think that is a first in UCC history and you’ve made it! Also being here feels like a warm hug!”

Gibberish

“So now let’s talks about while its really hard because it is, change hurts! Motivational self help books will try to convince you that a paradigm shift, like the kind that Janet talked about last week That Jesus introduced, is a magical portal to success. I cannot speak for anyone else but I have never willingly and happily embraced a paradigm shift, no! Or most any significant change for that matter.

It hurts, it sucks, and being open and affirming is not only intellectually uncomfortable. It also means the person sitting in the pew next to me might have a gender that is foreign and confusing, have relationships that scandalize me and my sense of right and wrong, use language I don't understand. Tripping over unfamiliar pronouns might make me feel anxious or stupid or out of place. I might find myself sharing intimate spiritual space with people whose life practices make me deeply uncomfortable. And whose very present threatens my most, most basic understanding of the world, and how it works—and right and wrong.

If the table is wide, I might get seated with people I don't really like Or understand while all of my familiar and comfortable friends are the other side of that very wide table. The unfamiliar is really uncomfortable. And being uncomfortable often feels the same in my body as being unsafe and when we come to church we want to be safe and comfortable. There’s a simple reason for this experience of being uncomfortable with the unfamiliar And it’s not not because we are bigoted and intolerant, because we’re mammals and we have a fight or flight Instinct that that has helped us evolve to where we are today and it says “avoid the unfamiliar thing it might eat you!”

Well we do have the best flags (homosexual) and the best music, but in practice it’s really really hard, it’s hard. We work so hard at welcoming people who are different, who inevitably going make us uncomfortable and will probably ask us to change. What's in it for the 90% who are perfectly happy with the way things are? It's important that we know why we do this because if being ONA (open & affirming) is just about social justice and doing the right thing because we're good progressive Christians, I'm afraid that all of our flag and buttons and good intentions will not be enough to actually make us safe people.

Unfortunately self-righteous justice warriors often fight anything that threatens their sense of right and wrong even when its the people they claim to be fighting for. Paul wanted the Church of Corinth to have a wide welcome that was based in knowing who they are. I know you'll and I know that in this community ONA goes much deeper than a Social justice issue you are people who know how to be uncomfortable together I know that because I've set in discomfort with many of you. It's okay to be uncomfortable, it's okay to be wrong, It's okay to change.

It's okay to make mistakes. It's okay because we know who we are and we know that being ONA not the thing we do for somebody or someone out there. For those poor oppressed queer people it is a thing we do for us; we do it because we need it. Because we all have skeletons and shadows and closets inside of us each of us. If we chose we could start a scandal It’s a little bit of a challenge take it If you want, anyone can have a rainbow flag and attend workshops on pronouns. I need you the community where a table is wide enough not only for my gender, but for my failures and my flaws. That's the kind of open and affirming community that we are. And continue to learn how to become for ourselves and for one another. The table is wide enough here for people who make mistakes.”

11:39: “There's room for all of you! All the pieces of you that you usually don't pull out and let people see, Even the scandalous ones. Even the parts you're having to hide in polite company. The ones that most people don't want to see even those parts are welcome, at a wide table! If you heard about Jesus, as most of you have, I hope you noted almost everything that Jesus did was a scandal! Jesus told a lot of stories and when he talked about the kingdom of God he often talked about wedding feasts, with really scandalizing guest lists.

We don’t know much about the cultural context of Jesus’ time or what the popular, top 10 most popular songs were or which plays where we're going in the coliseum, what are the stories that everyone was talking about and the and the leadership that had scandalizing things to gossip [about].

But what we do know is that in India at the time of Jesus, some of the most popular stories were of Lord Shiva; especially his marriage to Pavarte. Now since spikenard made it all the way to Jerusalem I'm going to assume that some of those stories did too because stories travel faster and they're free.

So I like to think that along with the spikenard and the other the gold and the things the special spices that came along on those caravans, there were stories. Shiva is the supreme creator and destroyer of all things and of all the worlds Father of all beings because everything comes from him he's also completely impartial He doesn’t distinguished between good and bad like humans do. At his wedding all the beings that we call good. And those we call evil, those we desire and those we fear. The pure, the unclean, the beasts, the beautiful, the ugly the rich, the poor were all invited and all present! They were not invited because of their merit or their holiness but because they existed, and were therefore a part of Shiva. The wedding feast of Shiva and Pavarte is the only time in Hindu mythology When the Godlike divas and the destructive demon like rockshishas danced together I don’t know if Jesus and his listeners remembered the story of Shiva’s wedding feast when he told about weddings.”

Shiva?? Here are a couple screenshots from this girl’s FB page:

So in other words, all will be welcome at Jesus’ table in heaven—the Devil and Saints and Sinners all together!! This is unity in iniquity, Satan’s goal for humanity.

Two biblical points:

1) False gods have no place in the worship of Yahweh (Exodus 20:2-6; 1 Cor. 10:20; Deut. 12:30-31).

2) The story of the wedding feast talks about a man who had no wedding garment and was cast out. The wedding garment is the character of Christ (which is conveniently left out in this sermon). Matthew 22:11.

Back to The ‘Sermon’

“Where the blind, the lame, and poor were welcomed and danced with the rich and powerful. If the rich and powerful were willing to be there in such company. But there enough parallels I like to think they did, That they existed in the same milieu, the same imagination. I like to think those who heard Jesus understood he was talking about a kingdom, that was impartial and generous as Shiva. Where there's room for everyone and everything, and all the realities of life and death, the pleasurable, the uncomfortable ones, the tragic ones. I need a table where those I fear, are welcome not because it’s right or just or even heroic for me to want that.”

16:20: “Because only only a table that wide can also hold the parts of myself that I fear. There are shadows in me that are more terrifying than anything on the streets of Portland. There are skeletons in my closet that won’t be set free until we sit down together and I see myself in your story. God wants to sit down next to us in drag.

The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God (Deuteronomy 22:5).

“And maybe and maybe it won’t be the strangeness of the disguise that’s scary but the familiarity. The part of my rejected self that I still need to make friends with looking back at me through a stranger so where are the places in yourself that still need to experience a wide welcome? The parts of you you're still afraid for anyone to see. Let’s create a community that is truly open and affirming so that we can know, that every part of ourself is welcome here. Make the table so wide, that it will hold all of us not just each of us all of us.

And if we can be that kind of community for ourselves, then I know we’ll be truly open affirming and safe for others who join us no matter how unfamiliar or strange or outlandish it might seem. As we celebrate our commitment together to be an open and affirming community today I invite you to recommit to the constantly expanding and deeply uncomfortable journey, that is a wide welcome and to start with yourself.

We’ll be sharing loaded table together to finish. Everyone’s welcome at this table and that means all of you is welcomed as well the skeletons, the shadows—all of it. It’s all going to change anyway” (Laughing) Applause…

Sad Lessons

While it is true that God welcomes people to Himself, by no means is He going to allow every dark shadow and secret skeleton sins in Heaven! (Exodus 34:7). We come to Him, but don’t stay as we are! (2 Corinthians 5:17; Romans 12:2). The Bible is clear, we must die to self and crucify these sins through repentance (Galatians 2:20; Romans 8:13).

This girl is one (only one) example of someone who started out with the best of intentions. Under the approval of a world-worshiping Division, Conference and University, she pursued—and received—a ministerial degree. Under the approval of a mysticism-loving Conference president in Ohio, she was introduced to deception that deeply wounded her spirit.

I advise everyone to repent and turn from associating with pagan beliefs that say all will be in heaven. Turn from the LGBT movement, while there is time to repent.

Seymour

“But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence” (1 Timothy 2:12).