On Sunday December 20th, 2015, a Christmas interfaith service will be held at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (261 S 900 E) to affirm the dignity and worth of all people.
The service, titled “Seeing Christ In Every Child,” was prompted by ongoing spiritual isolation and pain expressed by LGBTQ people of faith. Organizers of the service hope it will provide healing to those who suffer as a result of being forced to choose between their families and their faith tradition.
The service welcomes people of any sexual orientation and gender identity to worship this Christmas season, reminding everyone of the need for seeing Christ in every child.
“Religion is more about faith than fixed certainties. There is no place for cruelty or punitive action in a church whose top priority must be following the example of Christ’s love,” says Unitarian pastor Tom Goldsmith of Salt Lake City.
The devotional comes at a particularly challenging time for many LGBTQ Utahns who are disinvited to holiday family gatherings, a pattern that devotional organizers say is too common in Utah’s family-oriented social culture. “The Jesus of the New Testament sought out people who had been marginalized in society. He didn’t add new policies to ostracize special categories of people,” says J. Seth Anderson, co-organizer of the event.
The devotional is scheduled to begin at 5 pm, and will be a one hour service. For additional information and inquiries, please contact Michael Ferguson (maf378@cornell.edu) or Seth Anderson (sethanderson81@gmail.com).
Michael Adam Ferguson 
I’m so very happy to see that this is happening. I am beyond angry about the new changes in the handbook that was done by the Quorum of the 12. It’s good to see that there are others speaking out about this!