On the 19th of July, Neil Urquhart (minister at Fullarton ConneXions) chose to focus on ‘The Good Samaritan’ for the service’s bible reading (which was live streamed on Facebook). Later on for the focus for the service he spoke of The Good Samaritan, in regards to the LGBTQ+ community particularly Peter Tatchell (Spokesperson for Outrage & long time proponent for LGBTQ+ & other human rights), as part of our ‘Outsider Gospel’ Series.

I found the service so encouraging! Not only for specifically entitling the focus (in the service sheet issued out before the service) as “The LGBTQ Samaritan”, but also flagging issues which have often been taboo to talk about and swept under the rug. What I found particularly intriguing though is when Neil emailed asking if I’d like to do the reading of The Good Samaritan parable (Luke 10:25-37), he mentioned coincidentally that he’d been planning to base a service on this parable in relation to LGBTQ+ community before I posted my article, The Good Homosexual. I paraphrased from Steven Moffat’s ‘Sherlock’ show:

Mycroft: “What do we say about coincidences?”
Sherlock: “God and the universe are rarely that lazy.”

To watch the “The LGBTQ Samaritan” focus of the service, follow the Facebook video link below and fast forward to 29:09. www.facebook.com/watch/?v=719503282179655