Category Archives: Journeys

St. Francis of Assisi

It’s in Giving That We Receive

It’s in giving that we receive. (Prayer of St. Francis, 13th century saint) When you give, You begin to live, You get the world. (“You Might Die Trying,” Dave Matthews Band, 21st century musical group) I have what some people might call “issues” around money.

Festival Hands Up People Partying

No One Picture of HIV/AIDS

“There is no easy way to ever tell anyone this. We find the best way is to just tell people flat out. You have HIV.” That is a sentence that no one ever wants to hear, but sadly it is still spoken. I heard it

Hand reaching toward sunlight

Knowing God Like I Know My Mother

For me, knowing God means having a relationship with God. To wrap my mind around this, I sometimes think about what it means to know and be known by my mother. Not Having All the Facts Although my mother and I have known each other

Man writing

A Farewell Message

Dear Saints: Today, by God’s grace, I complete my service as Moderator of Metropolitan Community Churches. I am writing these words to you today from my almost empty offices in the MCC World Centre in West Hollywood, California. The mementos of 37 years of ministry

Abandoned shopping cart in a garage

Meeting God in the Grocery Store

I had an interesting experience recently at Shaws (a local grocery store). I was on the checkout line, and waiting behind me, a young girl stood holding her baby. Both of them were very young. He must have been much less than a year old

Sunlight shining through leaf

Limitless Glory

When I was a child, I had the misfortune – in many ways, although I loved my childhood and my home country – of growing up in a country where much of diversity did not exist. I’m from Somalia, where nearly all people are Somali,

Wedding rings on dictionary

Jumping the Broom

Uncertain of what might greet us when we walked through the doors of the Office of the Town Clerk in the Municipal Building of the Borough of Chatham, NJ, to register for Domestic Partnership, Barbara and I stopped, looked at each other for assurance, and

Wedding rings on dictionary

To My Family

Mom and I had an interesting conversation recently. We were discussing my penchant, from childhood, to be a contrarian. I told her that one of my favorite shirts as a kid was a sweatshirt with a big yellow arrow on it pointing off to one

Apple on Tree in Orchard

From Sin to Blessing

I’ve spent the good part of my 30 years running and hiding from sin. From the day I first realized I was homosexual, I linked the two words together. I believed you couldn’t have homosexuality without sin. I was raised in a very small, rural