Defining Moments

None of my early memories were defining in a religious way for me.  I remember being in choir, I remember friends, I remember being in musicals, I remember VBS in the park, I remember weekend trips, and I remember work weeks during the summer.  None of those defined me, they were all just expected of someone who went to University Presbyterian Church.

Or at least they were overshadowed by how I was treated when as a 19 year old I told the head of the college department I had been raped.  As I had been a bit wild there was victim blaming and slut shaming.  I am not sure I will ever get over that.

I left the Presbyterian faith and wondered.  I tried pagan, I tried Lutheran, I tried Catholic.  I found a family at First African Methodist Episcopal, but not quite the church home I needed.

At FAME I tried hard to fit better.  Once the music made me feel like dancing, so I did.  Unfortunately this was taken as me being full of the spirit, when really I was just feeling the beat (it was a great beat).

When my friend invited me to come to an Episcopal church I started doing research and was excited that it was Catholic service (which I love) with an allowance for those of us left of left.  Then I found out that I could join a religious order, which had been that dirty wish I had had since I was very little.  That plus Pentecost service had me in love.