"My Turn" from Newsweek Magazine

Two friends from opposite coasts of the U.S. emailed me about "My Turn" in the most recent Newsweek, and then I read about it at Musings of an Episcopal Padre. The essay is entitled "Let Me Worship as I Am." It is by Jimmy Doyle and tells his journey as a gay man in finding a spiritual home in the Episcopal Church. This makes me proud to be an Episcopalian.

I chuckled when he wrote of his discomfort with the general opinion of "Christian" as a category, something I struggle with when classed with the prevailing idea of Christianity as fundamentalists on the loose judging everyone else.

"The very word 'Christian' makes me wish I'd had a Druid spiritual awakening. In today's lexicon, Christian is equated with fanatics who need God to be as human as can be: male, full of pride and hate, war-loving and with a voting record that can only be described as shortsighted. For me to have found the answer to my spiritual hunger in the teachings of Jesus was at best highly inconvenient."

I know LGBT people have difficulties with the judgment and condemnation felt from Christians and Christian churches, and so I was glad Doyle could write:

"As my partner's Mormon mother would say, I have a testimony. I was created by God, who works through all of his creation, and I've been gay as a handbag since birth. . . .And I have faith that I will stand in front of the altar of God and commit my life to the man I love, with smells and bells and without secrecy. It is right to stand before God as I am, and speak my own truth."

Luckily, he and his partner live in California, where it is now legal to be married as same-sex partners. I hope and pray that this will become true for my daughter and her partner in Washington State.

Go here to read the rest of the article.

And connected with this is the happy story of an older lesbian couple who now can marry in California, as posted by Choral Girl.