the church

Well, today I went to Trinity Reformed United Church of Christ. Trinity is an open and affirming (ONA) church, which means they welcome LGBTQ folk into full membership. So, I was a bit excited. I wasn't sure what that would look like in practice but was excited about what it said in theory. All folk, regardless of their bed mates, worshiping together.

The church is 3 blocks from the house, so I walked. I love it. I left church at 12:03 and was home at 12:09!! Anyway, when I walked in, there stood an elderly white gentleman holding bulletins. He asked me to sign the guestbook. The second person I saw was a woman walking toward me with her arms stretched out and she embraced me. "Welcome. Thank you for joining us this morning." That's all she said to me and I truly believe she meant it.

Now, as I looked around the sanctuary, I noticed that Black people were few and far between. But, since I have been in a White church for the last 4 years or so, I was okay with that. A really nice hetero couple sat down next to me. The structure of the service was familiar to me. I knew the songs that we sang. I felt comfortable.

As I looked around the congregation, I saw straight couples, lesbian couples, and gay couples. I saw young people and older people. I saw a lesbian couple who are both in their 70's! That's right 70's. I thought that was mad cool. They actually clapped when the choir finished singing, which I was not expecting since this is a White church.

The pastor actually taught from the text. So many White preachers start their sermon with a story and kinda sorta teach the text. He stuck with the text all the way through. No random stories or illustrations. He did a great job of breaking down the text and his application was definitely on point.

This was a great experience. The church seems like a big family. I think I'm going to go again and see if I really like it. They have some events going on this week and I think I may check them out. I'm really glad I saw the church sign. That's the only reason I decided to stop by. It's funny how we sometimes stumble into right where we are supposed to be. I may have found my church while I'm in North Carolina and it

Makes. No. Sense.