What Have I Learned in One Year at Spring Creek....

Last night at choir/bell rehearsal, I quietly celebrated the one year anniversary of first attending Spring Creek United Church of Christ. Don't really need a charm bracelet to commemorate this. For the past few weeks while I was trying to find a way to remember the 15 years of discovering my feminine side, I glanced at some of the calendars that I have on my wall on the month of April and remembered one year earlier about attending a service at Spring Creek, just for the hell of it. I was told about the church late in the summer of 2011 while at a meeting for the first Rockford Pride Fest. Received a pamphlet describing the church, located at Spring Creek & Spring Brook. I had previously passed the church many times before, taking the shortcut going to Woodman's and cruising west on Spring Creek when I had my wheels. The actual date I have since forgotten, but it was nice that they did arrange a way for me to get there.

 

To you long-timers of SCUCC, the previous pastor had retired the year earlier. So when I attended they had visiting pastors do the service. I forgot the last name of that particular visiting pastor when I first arrived, so those who've been there longer know who I'm talking about. Rev. Sue it was, or at the time, Pastor Sue. What's so special about her? Well, during the New Members class last May, I went ahead and told her AND the other members-to-be about my cross-dressing. I think Sue and the others were amazed on how I looked in that pic. On her last Sunday sermon in late June, I officially became a member. Still have the certificate to prove it. While I did dressed up for Rockford Pride Fest, it would be another 4 months until I finally got the confidence to do it in church...right before my 42nd birthday! Even dressed for the Sunday service before Christmas. Why did it take me so long to do that? Some of the congregation still doesn't know how to pronounce "Kay-lee-ah"! Go figure on this one, friends. 

The church's pre-Halloween gathering, Trunk-or-Treat, was actually nice. Free candy, too! So I still can be a kid at heart on a day like this. On my birthday, too. My friend Shawn ( who was the first person to pick me up for Sunday service one year ago) even got me my favorite ice cream-Pistachio Almond from Baskin-Robbins! So many kids enjoying a Friday evening. Such a warm sight for sore eyes.  This did turn out to be a nice way to celebrate my 40's. The church even sung me "Happy Birthday" the Sunday prior. Wait a minute! I didn't think the church knew who I actually was yet and they sing this to me with a birthday card? Incredible.

To the biblical followers, you know the scripture from Proverbs 18:24 (A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. KJV). It loosely means to have friends one must be friendly. That's where Jesus comes in. I have mentioned in the past about my depressions of being lonely in my motel room with a roommate of 14 years that is nicotine-deprived and incapable of being normal. I even wondered how an African-American like me would do in an Open and Affirming (LGBT-friendly) church that's predominantly Caucasian.  One of them sent me an email telling me that I was welcomed at Spring Creek. I do have some friends there now, even some of the elder members know me well.  I guess I can also call those social outlets like facebook a way to chat with all that know me. It helps ease the lonliness when I need it most.

Tonight, I got a retrospect from one thing that's kept me going at SCUCC: music. I'm in both the sanctuary and bell choirs here. This is a different path to being happy. In 1998, at my old church (shall remain nameless), they basically told me to step out of the choir after coming out to the director. I left the church after that, making a few appearances to say hello. OK, present day. Those years singing in choirs in church and in college came in quite handy here. One song we rehearsed tonight was a number that took me back to my college days with the Voices of Joy Gospel Choir at Dillard University in New Orleans (I was Mr. VOJ 1993-94, by the way!). It may go by a different name here, but I couldn't resist singing What A Fellowship the way I remember it. Hand-clapping, foot-stomping gospel at its best. Eh, at least the songs we sing here can relate to different themes. Quick example: the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey during the tithes and offerings to the sermon about spirituality and evolution? Weird huh? Janel,  our music director, did a children's song about dinosaurs. Be thankful it's name wasn't Barney. After the service, I told her how could you forget Walk the Dinosaur by Was (Not Was)? You know, "Open the door, get on the floor/Everybody walk the dinosaur"?! I do like Janel. She is a nice instructor, by the way. She does help both choirs with vigor and enjoyment. We can learn our parts a lot easier, too. It's good to have a music director with a slightly warped sense of humor like me. Almost forgot I got to sing lead on a few songs, especially the Black National Anthem, aka Lift Ev'ry Voice, during the Martin Luther King weekend in January. 

Saving the best for last, SCUCC has a new pastor during the past year. The Rev. Ivan Schoen came to us last summer as a visiting pastor at first. However, he was nominated unanimously to become the permanent pastor in February. Southern Baptist he was, yes. Anyway, the southern Illinois native & devoted St. Louis Cardinals fan does preach the sermon with great understanding (as long as I can keep myself awake to hear it). I did get it when his sermon about getting angry with God got to me, resulting in my 20-minute long YouTube response the same afternoon. We even had lunch together on Monday afternoon. (The Golden Chopsticks near Harlem & Alpine is a great place to have lunch, by the way. Buffet style. We both got full!) We are devoted baseball fans ( he with the Cards, me with the Brew Crew), and we both have Midwestern upbringings that keeps us level-headed. I never cared for those preachers that may have their messages, but why shout it out? The last thing I need to hear are those pastors/messengers who inhale via the microphone. It may be a Black thing, but I just want the sermon.  

A year has past since I became a part of the Spring Creek family. Like them I don't mind marriage equality for all people. The ONA is one of the main things I liked about this place. I also have fun with the choirs. This year, I shall hopefully come back with SC at Rockford Pride. I cannot predict what will happen next while I'm here, but I pray that better days are coming fast.