Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Same-Sex Marriage Hearing in Augusta on April 22, 2009
Today I counted at least nine people from our congregation at the Augusta Civic Center, where the public hearing on LD 1020, the Marriage Bill, was being conducted.
Proponents of same-sex marriage were asked to wear red to show their support of the bill. While representation seemed robust on both sides of the issue, there was a lot or red in the room. See for yourself:
We were not allowed to bring signs into the building. I left my "Clergy for Same-Sex Marriage" sign leaning against the building outside and retrieved it when I left. As I stood there holding the sign, people flocked from nowhere to take a picture of me holding it. Here is one taken by a member of the congregation:
I was impressed with the hearing. At least for the time I was there, I felt it was smoothly and fairly run, with courtesy and decorum expected of all.
Although I was not able to testify from the floor of the hearing, I did make a video testimony with Equality Maine. I said that I spoke as a minister who had parishioners who could not marry, even though they had in some cases been in committed relationships for decades and were raising children together.
I spoke as a straight woman who want the same privileges and rights afforded my family to be extended to all families.
And I spoke as a minister who had been serving a Massachusetts congregation when the law changed. Those first weddings were some of the most moving weddings I have ever witnessed. The feeling of having the burden of inequality lifted from our shoulders was almost indescribable.
Time will tell how today's testimony will influence the legislators. I have high hopes, though.
|
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Busy Church! Two Services Starting on April 5
NOTE: We still have two services, but the time for the second service has been changed from what this photo depicts.
The first service is still at 9:15. Religious education for children occurs during the first service.
The second service is now at 11:00.
Hospitality is offered between the two services. People at the first service are encouraged to stay and socialize. People attending the second service are encouraged to come a little early to join in hospitality.
|
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
The First Bluebirds
When I was little I heard about bluebirds. My elders spoke of the birds’ beauty with the same reverence they reserved for their descriptions of the elm-lined streets of yore.
But bluebirds were rare, with widespread use of DDT damaging their eggs and threatening their survival. Learning of both their rare beauty and their vulnerability set off within me a fierce desire for a sighting. Many long years passed before that dream came true.
One day when my son was small, he and I were both feeling crabby. No matter what one or the other of us did or said, we just irritated each other, the way family members do sometimes. We were in the kitchen grousing at each other. For some reason, I turned to the sink. I glanced out the window. A male bluebird sat calmly in the branch of the maple tree just outside. And in that instant the whole world changed for me.
“Look!” I exclaimed. “A bluebird!”
My son was too little to understand the yearning I had harbored for so long. But my excitement communicated how special the moment was. He ran to the sink. I pulled a chair up to the counter, then picked up my son and stood him in it so that he could get a good view.
Mr. Bluebird perched, chest puffed out, birdsong issuing forth. Moments later Mrs. Bluebird joined him on a nearby branch. My son and I watched, transfixed. Such amazingly beautiful colors. Such a privilege to witness splendor of that order.
Throughout the afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird flitted from one maple tree to another in our yard. Whenever we saw one of the birds, my son and I stopped whatever we were doing simply to watch. When my spouse came home from work that day, my son and I eagerly pointed out our new feathered friends. Our joy was palpable.
Every year spring since then – until last spring, when I found myself living in a quite different habitat – I have looked forward to the bluebirds returning from their winter migrations. Each time I have seen one has felt like a special gift.
I have long since forgotten whatever petty irritation was setting my son and me off that day. Such things come and go in the life of a family.
But I have never forgotten those first two bluebirds.
|