Sunshine Cathedral Blog

Question: None of my prayers are being answered lately. I wonder if God can hear me. What do you say to people who have this sort of crisis of faith?
Answer: I’m not sure you’re having a faith crisis. It takes a lot of faith (“trust”) to ask honest questions and to name genuine feelings. In [...]

Q&A by the Reverend Doctor Durrell Watkins, Senior Pastor
Question: We say before the Gospel reading, “Glory to you, indwelling Christ!” What exactly does that mean?
Answer: It’s a play on Colossians 1.27, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Very few people have grown up in MCC. People usually come to Metropolitan Community Churches from other [...]

Q&A by the Reverend Doctor Durrell Watkins, Senior Pastor
Question: How can we be a Cathedral since we don’t have a bishop?
Answer: When I first arrived here, we had at least two people who claimed to be bishops in independent (non-Roman) Catholic communities. But I take your point: historically, a cathedral houses the cathedra, the bishop’s [...]

Q&A by the Reverend Doctor Durrell Watkins, Senior Pastor
Question: I’m new and didn’t participate in the recent congregational meeting. Can you explain what the meeting was about?
Answer: We are required to have an annual congregational meeting. It is usually informative (as regular business is conducted at monthly board meetings). Because the meetings are usually communication [...]

Q&A by the Reverend Doctor Durrell Watkins, Senior Pastor
Question: Even though I am a confirmed skeptic, I love this church. I thought I had outgrown religion, but I find myself very happy at Sunshine Cathedral. Can you help me reconcile my critical thinking with my newfound love of church?
Answer: I don’t know that there is [...]

Q&A by the Reverend Doctor Durrell Watkins, Senior Pastor
Question: Why did you give out a DVD about homosexuality & the bible to everyone who attended Christmas Eve services? Some of us are past needing that sort of thing.
Answer: Let me answer your question in four parts — (1) Even if you are very proud of [...]

Q&A by the Reverend Doctor Durrell Watkins, Senior Pastor
Question: A fundamentalist friend of mine says the bible is a Christian’s sole basis for belief, and since I don’t take all of the bible literally, the basis of my faith is flawed. Do you have a response?
Answer: I would disagree that the bible is the Christian’s [...]

Question: Can you explain how “affirmative” prayer works, and how it is different from traditional prayer?
Answer: I’m guessing by “traditional” you mean the style of prayer that assumes that we must get a distant Deity’s attention and then persuade that Deity to assist us in ways that It/She/He would not have done without our asking. [...]

Question: How can I have more faith in divine provision? Should I tithe more? Would that help?
Answer: I define tithing as percentage giving, an intentional financial commitment one makes to a spiritual home. If you consistently give a generous percentage of your income to support the place that nourishes you spiritually, that is the spiritual [...]

Question: What is your teaching on sin and salvation?
Answer: Sin is missing the mark. What is the mark? To do unto others as we would have others to unto us; to love our neighbors as ourselves. I honestly believe it’s as simple as that. When we are kind, generous, compassionate, justice-seeking, peace advocating, examples of [...]