As I have gotten older, I have found myself less religious, more spiritual, and judge people based on their character. However, I must say that I miss the fellowship and beautiful services of mass. I was raised Roman Catholic and while living in Roanoke, I found companionship in a group known as the Roanoke Valley Catholic Young Adults. These fellow young adults amazed me--outgoing, nice, service oriented, and very devout in their faith. It was in their devotion to their faith that created two internal dilemmas for me.
The first one is that I personally am not incredibly devout and sure of myself when it comes to my faith. I will say that I absolutely believe in Heaven (I could not fathom not ever being with my earthly father again and I believe he is in Heaven); however, after that things get unclear. I want to believe I am monotheistic; however, having the belief that God is love and love can be found in many things that bring internal happiness and peace. I have been enlightened through reading that that belief is considered polytheistic. Aside from that, I believe Hell is a state of mind that one is unhappy and not in a peaceful state of mind; one can be in Hell while on Earth. Again, I do not believe that coincides with what the Catholic Church believes.
The second one is that they are so devout in their faith and the Catholic Church does not believe homosexuality is okay. Again, this group is amazing and I have never felt anything other than a welcome to the group but internally it feels awkward being the only member of the LGBT community (that I know of) in the group. I want to be able to find a same sex partner and come to church functions together and I believe that would be awkward with the Catholic Church.
I did a bit of searching on the internet and found that the Episcopal Church is very LGBT friendly. I decided to check out a church service within the Episcopal Church to see if it would be something I would be interested in joining. I selected a Celtic service at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Richmond. It was a beautiful service and reminded me a lot of the Catholic Church but very welcoming of many faiths and walks of life. The beauty of the church itself was breathtaking. The music during the service was Celtic and the environment was dimly lit with many candles. It is definitely a service that I will be attending again. Once I can get into the habit of going to church service again, I am going to try and make time to get involved in other events and with groups within the church.
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