Two men holding hands in a church in Brooklyn
The old time churches they say had all the frescoes on the ceilings with the semi-nude figures. This church though, has a mural on the ceiling, painted by an artist in the 1970s , about people around the church. The mural has two men holding hands.
The first time I came to church was in May 2010. The Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church has history. They speak about welcoming people regardless of their sexual orientation - and this kind of inclusivity is not about the kind in which people want gay people to come to church so they could stop sinning and turn straight.
A woman who came up afterwards to say she never saw me there before said yes, it was a nice church. She said the lesbian minister had asked her to be an official and that another minister had told her when she admitted to also having Buddhist alliances, that why do Christians believe they have the monopoly on Truth.
The mural on the ceiling, interspersed with the stained glass windows, is supposed to represent the community around the church. It is interesting watching this.. as though angels and Jesus and others are among the people walking around.
The church ceiling had some flakes of paint falling off, and there was a crack in the plaster. The church will get their new pastor soon. The Congregation was small - but mixed. Summer they say.. everybody on holiday.
I come for the music and there are three brilliant pieces by the group Manifest - one lady started crying. I know.. they say the music is not to be performance but all of us know, Hindus especially, the power of having 'good singing' as part of the service.
It was something watching this all male group singing under the mural which had the two men holding hands. I remember a Christian woman telling me that her church needed its gay men especially in the choir and I wonder whether this ensemble bothered with whether any of their members might not be straight.
There is something about being in a Sanctuary, as this part of the church property is called, which talks about social justice and diversity. Far from Guyana's churches where they are either silent in their claims to neutrality, or they take sides or where the Bishops like Mr Edghill talks nonsense about homosexuals, or in the Caribbean where 25,000 people apparently march against gays instead of say other things which you think would affect Jamaican Christians.
While the American hate churches drive the Caribbean ones, but the churches where two men hold hands and where Frederick Douglas spoke do not get attention in the Caribbean. Far from Guyana and where church and mandir and mosque rarely get involved.
The Reverend Wright gave a sermon about the importance of staying the course and not giving up. I am not a Christian so I cannot comment, but sermon was nicely delivered. I went up afterwards and in the gaff, the Reverend said her grandfather was a man named Fraser from Berbice who met her Jamaican grandmother in Panama.
Not so far from Guyana then in this church with two men holding hands.
The first time I came to church was in May 2010. The Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church has history. They speak about welcoming people regardless of their sexual orientation - and this kind of inclusivity is not about the kind in which people want gay people to come to church so they could stop sinning and turn straight.
A woman who came up afterwards to say she never saw me there before said yes, it was a nice church. She said the lesbian minister had asked her to be an official and that another minister had told her when she admitted to also having Buddhist alliances, that why do Christians believe they have the monopoly on Truth.
The mural on the ceiling, interspersed with the stained glass windows, is supposed to represent the community around the church. It is interesting watching this.. as though angels and Jesus and others are among the people walking around.
This church apparently was part of the Underground Railroad. A black woman spoke at the pulpit in the time when black women were not allowed to speak on pulpits and this church celebrated inter-racial marriages when those were illegal in many places. And the church programme had a prayer for an end to the wars in which children are killed - not many church programmes have that.
The church ceiling had some flakes of paint falling off, and there was a crack in the plaster. The church will get their new pastor soon. The Congregation was small - but mixed. Summer they say.. everybody on holiday.
I come for the music and there are three brilliant pieces by the group Manifest - one lady started crying. I know.. they say the music is not to be performance but all of us know, Hindus especially, the power of having 'good singing' as part of the service.
It was something watching this all male group singing under the mural which had the two men holding hands. I remember a Christian woman telling me that her church needed its gay men especially in the choir and I wonder whether this ensemble bothered with whether any of their members might not be straight.
There is something about being in a Sanctuary, as this part of the church property is called, which talks about social justice and diversity. Far from Guyana's churches where they are either silent in their claims to neutrality, or they take sides or where the Bishops like Mr Edghill talks nonsense about homosexuals, or in the Caribbean where 25,000 people apparently march against gays instead of say other things which you think would affect Jamaican Christians.
While the American hate churches drive the Caribbean ones, but the churches where two men hold hands and where Frederick Douglas spoke do not get attention in the Caribbean. Far from Guyana and where church and mandir and mosque rarely get involved.
The Reverend Wright gave a sermon about the importance of staying the course and not giving up. I am not a Christian so I cannot comment, but sermon was nicely delivered. I went up afterwards and in the gaff, the Reverend said her grandfather was a man named Fraser from Berbice who met her Jamaican grandmother in Panama.
Not so far from Guyana then in this church with two men holding hands.
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