Archive for November, 2008

… told me recently that working for justice and change can suck the life out of you. It’s also pretty tough on your family. Between January and November, my husband Matt was working on a Congressional campaign. It was a time when although I was amazingly proud of him and the work he was doing, I also felt the stress and strain of his long hours and high-pressure environment.

At Holy Covenant–where we’ve been attending for almost nine years–I felt an incredible amount of support during those months. Whether it was people asking me how Matt was doing, asking how I was doing, texting me from Grant Park to find out how things were going in Matt’s race or just saying a kind hello to me at worship … all of these things made me aware of just how important this place was to me. It was a community of people I could turn to who were not just friends and family to me, but who shared my faith in Matt and my belief in the importance of his work.

-Cindy Kuzma

… a matter of time before I came to Holy Covenant Church for worship. Years ago I had met Pastor Trey Hall through a friend and I remember visiting “that church with the mural” for a Christmas party. Less than one year ago I ran into an old college friend who told me about the wonderful people she had met at her church, only to discover she was talking about “that church with the mural,” Holy Covenant. While it may have taken years before I attended a service at Holy Covenant, it hasn’t taken long for me to feel welcome and like an important part of this community. The services have provoked a spiritual reflection that I have craved in my life, and at the same time the message of peace and social justice have reaffirmed my faith in God and humanity.

-Rachel Dziallo

… of 2004, I found Holy Covenant and immediately fell in love. Here was a church that upon walking in the door welcomed me and treated me like I was a part of their family. The first two people to welcome me at Holy Covenant were Troy Plummer and Walter Treash. I was blown away by the passionate worship and music – songs of praise I had not sung since my days in my high school youth group, which was a union of pain and rejoicing. It was my first experience of hearing God as Father and Mother of us all. If there is one thing that Holy Covenant emphasizes, it is the Great Invitation and that all our welcome at God’s table. It was the first time that I had heard gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people named as called by God and welcome at the Banquet. Since that first worship service, I have been actively involved at Holy Covenant and became a member on Easter Sunday of 2005.

Holy Covenant has been such a place and a community of healing for me. Coming out as a gay man in retrospect seems for me to have been so much easier than reconciling my sexual orientation with my religion. For years I had not felt like a whole person and confused my relationship with the institutional Church for my relationship with God. Holy Covenant gave me a home to feel safe and proud of whom I was and am: a fearfully and wonderfully made child of God. Holy Covenant has given me a glimpse of what the Banquet can be like. I want so much for the United Methodist Church to experience a revival of its roots, to claim God and God’s great, all-inclusive invitation.

-David Braden