I met a wonderful group of fellow Christians this weekend. Some friends in my Trans support group in New Orleans had suggested that I go visit an Metropolitan Community Church (MCC). They had been listening to me talk about the treatment that my Church was giving me regarding wanting to live as my true gender. It turns out that while on a business trip to Connecticut I was able to visit the New Haven MCC. If there is a more wonderful and friendly group of Christians, I would be surprised. They were welcoming and loving to me. I presented as a male. I'm sure that when I started to interact with them, they wondered if maybe I had stumbled into the wrong Church. I do not have an outward appearance of being gay, I looked mostly male.There were questions, I'm sure of it. Actually I'm positive, but I'll get to that in a sec.
These people were wonderful and as a Church body, they could probably teach the rest of the body of Christ a thing or two. They're still human, but it is refreshing to see people acting and behaving as they really are; allowing the Spirit of God to move through their hearts.
On this day, it was also Potluck Sunday. I was almost immediately invited to lunch after the service. Of course being a good guest, I accepted. What a great decision.
The Praise and Worship was great, the Message was Spirit-led and heartfelt. Really enjoyable.
Lunch was great. They even thought to get Popeye's chicken and biscuits! Talk about Spirit-led!
These people were so easy to talk to. Some of this ease must have been a free-ing of my spirit, a feeling that I could be me and not afraid to share. Let me tell you that I did share! For the few people that were told about the real me; the conversations that were led in the direction, there was a universal suggestions that I should talk to so-and-so or you should go see such-and-such. Wow. They're trying to hook a sistah up! They hardly knew me, yet they knew all about me and just about everything they needed to know. I would be hard pressed to find such openness in any other congregation.
Among the all the great people there, I met a wonderful soul that we just clicked. The type where the person will know about your experiences or have had experiences just like yours. It happened throughout our conversation. Genuinely a nice person and a good soul. I am so prayerful that things go well for him.
A natural part of socialization for humans is to categorize each other. When we meet someone we look for clues as to what they, who they are, what they might do and so on. It's natural. I'm no different. As the visitor to this congregation, many did just that with me. I did that with them. The most obvious category for me to choose for people there was who might be gay, a dyke, butch and so forth.
Remember, this Church is a haven so to speak for the socially dis-enfranchised, namely the LGBGT crown, thought not neccessarily. During my visit, people must have assumed a few different labels for me.
After relating my military experience and current National Guard service during one conversation the person I was talking to, wanted to know if my boyfriend was in the service too. My facial expression to his question stopped him in him tracks. He was like, "Did I say something wrong?" I was amused, and stuttered and told him that my situation was a little different, I guess. I told him that I was not gay, but that I was was transitioning and left the statement open. He stopped and looked at me then said, "Oh", then, "OOHH".
What fun.
During this lunch, I was also asked what I was transitioning to. Was I going from female to male or from male to female. Hmmmm.
More fun.
sidebar: It's easy to have fun in a safe loving environment. What on earth is it going to be like when outside of those four walls? I'm going to have to get a grip.
As you can tell, I had a really, really good time there and cannot wait to go back, I've made many friends from that group on Facebook. I was even told that any friend of **** is a friend of mine.
I am blessed.
There is an MCC in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. I have to figure out a way to visit the local MCC churches. Accomplishing that will be another story.
Here is a link: New Haven Metropolitan Community Church
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