Further religious musings
Religion seems to be the theme of the week. This morning the Rainbow Chorus performed at a service in Waterloo in which Parkminister United Church made its formal declaration as a new affirming congregation.
For those of you who live elsewhere, the United Church of Canada is our most liberal Christian denomination. It's structure is highly democratic. The decision whether to officially welcome people regardless of sexual orientation is left up to individual congregations. The necessary affirming process is lengthy, and frequently divisive. This morning's service marked a milestone after two years of difficult consensus-building for Parkminster, but as everyone was quick to point out, the challenge has only begun.
The Rainbow Chorus is strictly secular in its mission, usually secular in its choice of music, and as non-sectarian as possible in its use of religious lyrics. This is all good; I couldn't participate in a church choir. Nevertheless, in our three homes cities there are now several affirming United Churches, plus two Unitarian congregations. The latter have divested themselves entirely of doctrine and become essentially inclusive of everyone, no matter what you believe. Considering the choir's ideals about community building, we can hardly avoid getting involved with these churches. Nothing punctuates an affirming ceremony like a 40-voice queer choir, and we receive more invitations than we can accept.
So this morning was not the first time I sat and listened to a liturgy of heart-rending personal accounts, exhortations to seek and heal the dispossessed, and mutual congratulations. The strongest point was brought forward by two social workers, who know several youth in Kitchener-Waterloo who are homeless because they were kicked out after coming out to their families. As we celebrated liberal values and social progress, it was a timely reminder that access to these privileges isn't universal.
I was mildly uncomfortable, not because I felt alienated as a non-believer, in fact the church pointedly welcomes people who do not believe, along with everybody else. But after years of religious self-abuse in an intensely repressive church, I refuse to participate in acts of worship that contradict what I believe. The singing parts don't bother me (music was a strong part of my upbringing long before I became religious), but when it comes to the personal expressions of prayer and responsive readings, I retreat to a private bubble, lips benignly sealed.
Nothing about the service offended me though, so I was surprised afterwards to hear Moe was unhappy with it. Of all my close friends she is the most orthodox in Christian philosophy, and I must frequently bite my tongue around her. I don't enjoy debate.
Moe did not like the service. Too much pomp, she said, and it carried on far too long.
"I just have issues with church," she said.
"And I thought I was the one with church issues," I said.
Really it's not church but religion itself that doesn't make sense to me. Church is simply a place where people go to belong; that I understand. If more of them established a safe place today-queer people also craving the community of church-I am glad for them. Also valuable is the effort to bring people with different views and ways of thinking to a peaceful common ground.
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I haven't had time to respond to recent comments, but wanted to thank Elisabeth and Craig for their particular thoughts about the hereafter, with reminders of their own experiences. We each rely most heavily on our own experiences, of course, but it would be foolish to discount the testimonies of wise friends. I am informed by them.
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Last night I cleared off my big oak desk so it can serve it's intended purpose for the first time in at least six months. I have been preparing to tackle Pilgrim's Cross again, with the moral assistance of the new Writers Circle. The entire document only exists on my old computer, which I can't readily extract, so this evening I assembled all the individual chapters as they were posted in blind_king two years ago, into a new Word document. Now I'll print it. A hard copy is simply better to work with.
It's time to resuscitate Trent, Kelly, Samantha, Alec, the other characters and the scenic city of Dufferin.