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I am trying my best to become strong in my faith and with the help of a church called MCC (Metropolitan Community Church) I am finally getting there. This church is a gay-orientated church but not only gays attend. It really helps people deal with their issues on their sexuality and God. It gives our "family" something to believe in and the knowledge that God loves everybody, regardless of sexuality. For years I have heard that I would burn in hell or something along those lines. I was troubled in spirit and mind, didn't know where to turn or who to talk to. I would have talked to God but I didn't know if he would listen. But he does and he cares. Myself and some of my friends decided to attend MCC and had to travel 50 miles to get there. (Our small town is kind of homophobic even though our numbers are high.) We arrived there and the minute I walked through that door I felt His presence. The place was filled with God and for me I had found what my soul desperately needed: a place to call home.
Lee
Whosoever
I was born and raised in Lynchburg, Va. Yep. I know exactly what you're thinking. Isn't that the home of the Rev. Jerry Falwell? The answer is yes. And it just so happens that my parents were both on the church staff at Falwell's Thomas Road Baptist Church (my mom still is). Matter of fact, I'm the only member of my family who hasn't taught at or attended Falwell's Liberty University. However, I did attend the Christian high school affiliated with this ever famous Southern Baptist church.
I knew my entire life that I wanted God to be a huge part of my life and that I wanted to live for him no matter what the cost. However, it became painfully apparent at the young age of fifteen that I was also a lesbian. Growing up in an ultra-conservative Southern Baptist
home sent my emotional, mental, and spiritual life reeling for the next four or five years.
I spent so much time hating myself and feeling as though God hated me. I had a tremendous amount of guilt and felt as though God could never use me if I were living my life as the lesbian that He created me to be. My intense conflict lasted for years. At the same time, my family was sending me letters filled with Bible verses and telling me that I was no longer welcome in their home. Those were some very sad years.
However, I came to terms within my own heart that I was and always have been a lesbian and that going against the grain of my inner fabric would be living a lie. Not too much later, I walked into the Metropolitan Community Church in Roanoke, VA. Not only was it the most loving place I have ever been, but the pastor is also a former Southern Baptist, as are many of the members.
I was always told that God wouldn't bless my life if I lived in sin and that He wouldn't hear my prayers if I regarded sin in my heart. However, that lie has been exposed! God has touched and changed my life ten times over since I have given my heart back to Him and
realized that He did create me to be His beautiful child. He WANTS to bless my life, just as I am. The blessings haven't stopped and neither have my prayers of gratitude to my wonderful Lord and Savior.
I continue be saddened by the criticisms heaped upon myself and my gay brothers and sisters. But many religious folk say that "gays" aren't happy at all, and that they are wallowing in a vast spiritual wasteland. My desire is to live my life daily proving those statements untrue. My God is alive. He does love me. He loves me without reservation. And He says in that Bible everyone uses to oppose me that "whosoever" believes shall have everlasting life.
Not just heterosexuals, but whosoever. This means me!
Jen DeSaegher
MCC Mom
Although I am not a lesbian woman, I am the mother of a gay son, and President of the P-FLAG chapter in Melbourne, Australia. I have been awarded a Rainbow Award for care and support in Melbourne's LGBT community, by the community. Earlier this year I was judged to be a gay icon, whatever that may be, once again by the LGBT community and a very dear lesbian friend has acclaimed me as being "an honorary queer." I do hope that all this documenting my credentials is not too self congratulatory.
I was baptised into the Roman Catholic faith and was raised in that faith, as were our four children. Because of the appalling rejection of my son and my non-heterosexual friends, whom I regard as part of my family, by the Roman Catholic Church, I was forced to make a choice between my Church and my son ... and I would always choose my child. From time to time, I wear a Rainbow Sash indicating my total support for my "adopted community", and when my husband and I present ourselves for Communion in the Cathedral of this city we are refused the Sacrament by the Arch Bishop or whomever priest is distributing the Sacrament. These are such painful experiences, but valuable in teaching us just what discrimination is all about, and how our son, our friends and so many
very wonderful men and women are treated unjustly.
A gay man who is a family friend suggested to my husband John and I that we join him in worshipping at the Metropolitan Community Church in Melbourne, and we have become totally involved with that faith community. Certainly, the worship style is different from that with which we are familiar, but there is an honesty and a sense of total inclusiveness which is surely what the message of Jesus is all about. Our belonging to Metropolitan Community Church has drawn us into a loving community( we are regarded as Mum and Dad to many of the congregants), and has taken us from the spiritual wilderness in which we found ourselves following the rejection by our local parish and the Roman Catholic Church generally ( I have to say that we were very "out" ourselves in our support and pride for our non-heterosexual son by giving TV and newspaper interviews, and hence we were judged to be scandalous in the eyes of our conservative fellow parishioners). I will always be very thankful for the Catholic faith of my parents from whom I was given core Christian values, love, compassion and a thirst for justice, and who imbued me with the knowledge that in God's eyes we are all equal. However, when I die, I want to be buried from the Metropolitan Community Church in Melbourne, where I have seen those virtues put into practice.
Sincerely,
Nanette McGregor,
Melbourne, Australia
Get Up and Come Home!
I was raised as a Pentecostal in the Church of God and later became an ordained minister in the Church of God of Prophecy and then in an interdenominational church. When I came out, it was a shock to a lot of folks. I just didn't feel like I could turn my back and walk away. I read the book, What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality and it was life changing for me since this book explored the Greek and Hebrew interpretations. I had attended Bible College in 1990 and 1991 and realized the importance of studying Greek and Hebrew with the interpretation of scripture.
I had so many people telling me I was going to hell and that I was an abomination and that I was perverted and disgusting. I still didn't feel like I could just quit and walk away. I found refuge in the United Methodist Church at a very loving and caring congregation in Salisbury Maryland. After attending there for about a year, I saw an advertisement in a gay publication that introduced me to Metropolitan Community Church. I visited even though I
was a bit apprehensive and found the congregation to be very refreshing. I'm now a member and board member of Metropolitan Community Church in Washington, DC and, yes, I still cling to the fact that I have been called into the ministry and am very comfortable with my homosexuality and spirituality. I know God loves me just as I am and created me just as I am.
I know we have been through a lot of persecution as a gay community by the religious right (whom I used to be a part of) but I encourage my gay Christian brothers and sisters to press on and not lose faith. I also encourage those in the gay community who have been beaten down by religious groups to "get up" and come back home. There are "gay friendly" churches and the Metropolitan Community Church that will embrace you and after all, God hasn't changed his mind about you!
Blessings,
Bob Jones
Cathedral of Hope
When the Catholic Church decided "It's OK to be gay as long as you don't practice it," I decided to stop practicing my religion in the Catholic Church. After years of being a non-practicing Christian, I was brought to an MCC church in Dallas. I was not looking forward to going, to be honest, but really liked the guy who was bringing me, so I went. It was
one of the most incredible experiences of my life. The MCC where we went is called the Cathedral of Hope. Thousands of gays and lesbians worship there every week. It's so nice to worship in a place where no one defines God for you, and His love is inclusive of all
people. It's an amazing place. Everyone should
check it out.
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