Lois and I decided to “try church.”
This is easier said than done, of course. We both grew up Catholic and have all but given up on that years ago. Neither of our families pushed us to continue attending church and I was never even confirmed. (Bad Catholic that I am).
So, we weren’t really considering baptizing Andrew at first. Then, Lois’ sister-in-law and her mother both started asking us when we were going to baptism him. That started our “maybe we’ll look for a church” thing. I promised Lois that I would try it and keep an open mind.
I wanted to try this UCC church right around the corner from us because they are “open and affirming.” Suzanne wanted to try an Episcopal church just down the street because that’s where she went before her father died. We decided to try the Episcopal church first.
A few weeks ago, we tested it out. With Andrew and K* in tow, Lois, Suz and I sat in the back of this beautiful church and braced ourselves.
It was a warm, welcoming place.
The front page of the handouts boldly declared “We welcome all and respect the dignity of every human being.” The service started with one of the alter boys waving a stick with a floating dove attached over the heads of the parishioners. It sounds hokie, but it was so neat!
The pastor, a Black woman, was incredible! She mentioned “accepting all neighbors” and “treating people as equals” and even mentioned “gay” 2-3 times in her sermon on acceptance. Wow.
Even though K* threw up all over the church pew, we were still asked to come back!
So, we went again this Sunday, sans Suzanne and K*.
We noticed that the two women in the next pew were “definitely a couple”. LOL. And again enjoyed how warm and welcoming everyone was and how enlightening the sermon was.
After church, we hung out and one of the older women that we had lemonade with didn’t bat an eye as we talked about Andrew as “our” son.
I guess we were expecting to feel so different and unwelcome. We were so wrong.
I am someone who went to a Jesuit college and was able to “opt out” of the required religion classes by taken an extreme number of history, political theory and women’s studies credits. Needless to say, I have been very anti-organized religion for at least 12-15 years.
This was different. They didn’t shove God down your throat. They didn’t tell us how we were supposed to think or act. The sermons offered hope, empowerment and peace.
I think we may have found “our church.” We are making a promise to ourselves to try to attend maybe 2x per month.
I want Andrew to be able to make his own decision some day about who he wants to be and if religion is a part of that, but I am feeling better about giving him a chance to know a little religion.
