Respite for Outcasts, Misfits, and Wanderers

Welcome to the Chapel of the Open Hearth

The Chapel of the Open Hearth is a queer spiritual community celebrating the rich tapestry of love and identity. Our lives have not fit into binary structures, and we don't expect God and faith journeys to fit into boxes either. Our founding leadership team is made up of trans, agender, pansexual, demisexual, poly, and monogamous folks, along with other expressions that defy easy labels.
All consensual and nurturing relationships are sacred.
All expressions of identity that honor the divine image within are beautiful.
We celebrate and revel in our Queerness .
We affirm allies, the straights, the heteros, the cisgender, and the monogamous.
If love lives in your heart, you are welcome here.

The prized spaces by our hearth are reserved for those who have been targeted and maligned by oppressive forces and systems. We seek to be a refuge for People of Color, Immigrants regardless of status, Queer folk, Trans folks, the economically disadvantaged, those living with disabilities, and those who have been persecuted by Christian nationalists.
We ask that all our guests treat one another as keepers of a sacred light. Abusive behavior will not be tolerated.

Christian Heathenism
We are Christians in that we follow the Way taught by the anointed liberator Jesus to gather the outcasts, feed the hungry, shelter the dispossessed, welcome the neighbor, and pray fervently to prepare for the Heavenly Reign. We are heathen because we welcome the wisdom found among the heath and the wild places; we seek the voices calling from the wilderness. In these wild places, we find religion that has grown up outside the structures of orthodoxy, the wisdom of the oppressed, and syncretic folk traditions that blend many practices. This religion is wild and free, and God cannot be put in one box.

Dedication to Brigid
This Chapel is dedicated to the Sacred Messenger Brigid. Brigid is revered as a Saint in Christianity and a Goddess to the ancient Celts. She is a keeper of thresholds and in-between places. She is a midwife, a poet, a healer, a smith, a peacemaker, a miracle worker, and so much more. We honor the multiplicity of her images and ask her to bless this chapel and the pilgrims who gather here. We are called to her tender expression and heartfelt care of the world that defies easy categorization.