{"id":10344,"date":"2020-10-26T10:45:19","date_gmt":"2020-10-26T14:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?p=10344"},"modified":"2020-11-19T10:10:02","modified_gmt":"2020-11-19T15:10:02","slug":"elton-john-thanks-pope-francis-catholic-singer-songwriter-sarah-kroger-reaches-for-the-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2020\/10\/elton-john-thanks-pope-francis-catholic-singer-songwriter-sarah-kroger-reaches-for-the-light.html","title":{"rendered":"Elton John thanks Pope Francis + Catholic singer\/songwriter Sarah Kroger reaches for the &#8220;Light&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Here&#8217;s the latest from the crossroads of faith and media: 10\/26\/20<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span class=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/movies\/2020\/10\/26\/pope-francis-makes-landmark-comments-lgbt-civil-unions-francesco\/6035541002\/\"><strong>As USA Today reports<\/strong><\/a><strong>, the documentary film <em>Francesco<\/em> (which just debuted at the Rome Film Festival) is bound to be remembered as the occasion in which Pope Francis appeared put the Catholic Church on the side of civil unions for gay people.<\/strong> While that may be causing some controversy within the Church, music icon Elton John is signaling his gratitude via his Instagram account, writing<em> &#8220;Thank-you <a class=\"notranslate\" tabindex=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/franciscus\/\">@franciscus<\/a> for your endorsement of same sex civil unions. My civil union and subsequent marriage to <a class=\"notranslate\" tabindex=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/davidfurnish\/\">@davidfurnish<\/a> has brought us immeasurable happiness and security.&#8221;<\/em><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">****<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/ecp.yusercontent.com\/mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fd31hzlhk6di2h5.cloudfront.net%2F20201023%2Fb3%2F47%2F75%2F32%2F59218d81dc86f3958a293b20_568x568.jpg&amp;t=1603719524&amp;ymreqid=ae7ac87d-528e-3d6c-1cd7-ad009d013100&amp;sig=7mcfMIGuFRWxmpxcaLPfeg--~D\" alt=\"\" width=\"154\" height=\"154\" border=\"0\" \/><strong>Sarah <\/strong><span class=\"yiv9650036817e2ma-style\"><strong>Kroger grew up in Melbourne, Florida where she developed a love for music as a child and began singing in church choirs while following in the steps of her parents who were both music ministers.<\/strong><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"yiv9650036817e2ma-p-div\"><span class=\"yiv9650036817e2ma-style\">In her new album, <em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/t.e2ma.net\/click\/b2kvte\/fplmen\/7a5d3t\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Light<\/a>, <\/strong><\/em>Kroger, now a Nashville-based Catholic worship leader and songwriter (For Us, Run to The Cross, In The Silence), offers an upbeat style of worship music that showcases her continued growth as an artist since her 2019 release of <em>Bloom<\/em>.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"yiv9650036817e2ma-p-div\"><span class=\"yiv9650036817e2ma-style\">&#8220;Writing for <em>Light<\/em> allowed me to put into practice what my previous album,\u00a0<em>Bloom,<\/em> set into motion,&#8221; shared Kroger, talking about the progression between the two albums. &#8220;<em>Bloom<\/em> was the process of rising out of the dirt and stretching towards the sun. <em>Light<\/em> is about what comes next &#8211; showing up every day and being who God made me to be. I\u2019m a person who has a tendency of keeping things in the dark. Whether it&#8217;s something I perceive as good, like my talents or bad, like my sin and shame, I keep it hidden. Standing in the light makes us vulnerable &#8211; but it\u2019s also the place where Love can do its greatest work&#8230;<\/span><span class=\"yiv9650036817e2ma-style\">I hope that the songs on <em>Light<\/em> inspire and challenge people to see beyond their perceptions of God, themselves, the world and lead them to what is true, good, and beautiful.&#8221; <\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"yiv9650036817e2ma-p-div\"><span class=\"yiv9650036817e2ma-style\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ecp.yusercontent.com\/mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Fd31hzlhk6di2h5.cloudfront.net%2F20201023%2Fd0%2Fe2%2F36%2Ffa%2Fa3d4f88babfa144a8516ff2d_906x474.jpg&amp;t=1603719524&amp;ymreqid=ae7ac87d-528e-3d6c-1cd7-ad009d013100&amp;sig=5YIJkH_hI.yMEr05IQeRHg--~D\" alt=\"\" width=\"453\" height=\"237\" border=\"0\" \/>\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3><strong><em><span class=\"st\">Encourage one another and build each other up &#8211; <\/span><\/em><span class=\"st\">1 Thessalonians 5:11<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s the latest from the crossroads of faith and media: 10\/26\/20 As USA Today reports, the documentary film Francesco (which just debuted at the Rome Film Festival) is bound to be remembered as the occasion in which Pope Francis appeared put the Catholic Church on the side of civil unions for gay people. While that&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9,1085,7192,714,24,25,4088,1],"tags":[10233,10230],"class_list":["post-10344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholic-church","category-christianity","category-forgiveness","category-freedom","category-gay-issues","category-movies","category-music","category-pope-francis","category-uncategorized","tag-elton-john","tag-sarah-kroger"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Elton John thanks Pope Francis + Catholic singer\/songwriter Sarah Kroger reaches for the &quot;Light&quot;<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Elton John thanks Pope Francis + Catholic singer\/songwriter Sarah Kroger reaches for the &quot;Light&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here&#8217;s the latest from the crossroads of faith and media: 10\/26\/20 As USA Today reports, the documentary film Francesco (which just debuted at the Rome Film Festival) is bound to be remembered as the occasion in which Pope Francis appeared put the Catholic Church on the side of civil unions for gay people. 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