Knee Deep in Faith

Our quest to find our place in the area -- and mature adults to hang out with -- led us to church yesterday. The Metropolitan Community Church of Winston to be precise. It's something we talked about before moving down here -- realizing that faith is a big part of southern culture. And recognizing that church is a strong community-building tool if nothing else.
I'd been to an MCC service in Manhattan many years ago. Just once. It didn't strike a chord with me.

The PIC got much more out of it than I did. He was raised Baptist -- I was raised Catholic. He knew all the songs -- I'd never heard them before. The experience reminded him of his parents -- it reminded me of when I was an adolescent and it dawned on me that my church didn't want me. (A major disconnect with the whole "God is love" message.)

The people at the MCC were all very nice and welcoming. The service was somewhat more Baptist in nature than I recall and very Christ-centered.
The PIC was grateful I went with him and I've offered to go to more services and even check out other churches with him. Apparently there are several in the area that are "welcoming" to gays/lesbians.

Also on the religion note: we rented Jesus Camp recently. Scary. While I recognize that organized religion has done a lot of good for a lot of people over the years, I also believe that a lot of bad has been done in the name of religion -- this movie is a prime example of that. I felt so bad for some of the kids portrayed in this documentary. To me it felt like child abuse. Ugh. Knowledge is power.






Also on the Southern Baptist note: we got Mississippi Sissy from the library. The memoir's gotten a lot of praise from the gay press since it came out. And I thought it was well deserved. Kevin Sessums is a great storyteller and his story struck a chord both with the PIC and myself. The book is an easy read and each of us tore through it in just a few days.







One of the things I look for in documentaries and memoirs (most entertainment actually) is something that will take me out of my own experience and teach me something. Both of these works succeeded in that and I recommend them.