Calling all Angels: a Kindasorta Fairy Tale
Once upon a time, exactly half my life ago, Daniel and I went out on impulse and got matching tattoos, an unassuming rose, on our chests. Last night we were chilling at his pad for a quiet night of wholesome American Idol fun. Still festive after all these years, we enjoyed the company of gin in outrageous and perhaps a little outdated martini glasses, and more than a few Madonna numbers, as usual.
A day like this is no small treasure: what a gift is friendship.
Later, after we took in a half hour each of Seinfeld and Will and Grace, I headed home, and gave another good friend of mine a dingle. I’m happily the third wheel on the John and Gonzalo wagon. We love a good dinner party, some music, some seriously intense conversation and a good chardonnay. We love to laugh. I was the Best Girl at their wedding, pretty in pink as I stood with my friends as they wed. I was so damn proud to live in Canada, where my friends were newly able to celebrate their love just like everybody else. Today, we simply make plans for some Sunday night gourmet.
Yep, just another day in paradise. Free to be you and me. I love Canada for being a place where I am free to enjoy my friends and family of all stripes. But it wasn’t that long ago that I had no idea where so much of my freedom comes from. Because of a tireless hero named the Rev. Dr. Brent Hawkes, senior pastor at the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto, my beloved J and G could stand at the altar. Because Brent Hawkes is brave and fearless, Canada is leading the world in many human rights affairs. I’m more guilty than anyone else on Church Street in complaining about just about everything, but Brent’s work puts things into perspective pretty quickly: gays in other parts of the world are regularly jailed, tortured, or killed. A lot of Church Street won’t set foot in church, and though you are invited, friends, you don’t have to feel the spirit to be a part of Brent’s fuzzy glow. We are free to a large extent because of his work.
I’m ashamed that I was only peripherally aware of Dr. Hawkes for so long, and grateful that it has changed. Last summer, after a two-decade absence, I returned to church. There were a few reasons for that, but I wasn’t expecting to find something so genuine and smart. I was prepared to swallow more than a little b.s. just to spend a few hours during a desolate period, a long grief, with God.
The second I walked into the old building, an understanding of the word ‘sanctuary’ suddenly flooded through me. The program I was handed said Welcome Home. This is a progressive faith, a positive life force, and it’s done wonders to balance the negativity and sorrow that accompany much of life. What can I say? Church is fabulous.
But whether or not we are a part of Brent’s church, we are all a part of his legacy. He braved bullets for us. He gave us freedoms we are hardly aware we have. For decades, Brent has served the front lines of fighting for human rights for gays and for all. He has earned numerous awards for his participation in endless causes. Brent doesn’t just learn from history: he makes it. While some of his work has been through various committees and advisory boards, some has been rather unorthodox: the hunger strike, for example, showed us a man who was willing to starve for our rights and freedoms.
You don’t have to take my word for it, friends. Today was the investiture ceremony for Pastor Hawkes being named to the Order of Canada — the country’s highest civilian honour. I am fiercely proud to be a part of Brent’s church and invite you to come out and learn about some of the ways it is active in local and global communities.
All are welcome: and in case you were afraid to ask, not everyone is gay. It’s not really about that. It’s just a place where everyone strives to get along, to open the heart. People from every faith background mingle naturally with people from every cultural background, from every subculture, from every kind of human need and longing, people of every kind. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight. It’s all rather astonishing and I encourage you to visit. It is one of the rare places in my life that I have found that ever-elusive joy, the peace that passeth understanding.
Congratulations on today’s honour, my dear Pastor Brent. I am proud to be a part of his flock, and I have much to learn from a man who risks everything to give rights and freedoms to us. It’s clear Brent learned straight from the source, and took it to heart when Jesus said, “A greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”
For more information on services, outreach, mission, etc:
www.mcctoronto.com
Visit the writer at www.thegirlcanwrite.net.
