Testimonies

… who you are, is finding out who you want around you. During a rather unexpected transition in my life, I felt the urge to attend church again, and went back to my Methodist roots. Since I knew Trey from his tenure at my home church, coming to Holy Covenant that first Sunday was an easy choice. Knowing one face brought me there; now knowing dozens keeps me coming back. This is a church where all are truly welcome, and the feeling of belonging washes over you, even if you’re not sure about anything else at all in your life.

- Liz Dierbeck

… written and performed by Susan Werner on her “Gospel Truth” CD kept hitting home for us…

“Sunday morning
there is someplace that I’m supposed to be
keeps returning
the feeling keeps coming over me
just like music
or like sunlight on a distant memory
Sunday morning
Sunday morning…”

While the topic of many discussions for several years, our actual involvement in a church community was a frightening thought for us. Belonging to a church community was something that we felt was missing from our lives, but where to find a community accepting of two gay men in a covenant relationship was going to require a bit of research. This was an important step in our lives, both for us as individuals and as a couple, so we began looking for a church that would bring us the spiritual nurturing and community fellowship that we hungered for.

As Christian gay men, we knew there were certain things we needed to find in the place we would eventually want to call our church home. We needed an open and affirming church community, but we weren’t looking for a “gay church.” We wanted a place where the grace of God was taught, where we would feel the presence of the Holy Spirit, where we’d look around us and into our hearts and “know” that we’d found our home. But for both of us, we felt finding what we wanted might be easier said than done. Then we walked through the doors of Holy Covenant UMC. From the first song to the sermon to the benediction, the authenticity of the Spirit’s presence and the pure, honest love and joy of the congregation swept us up. The warmth with which the church family has welcomed us and the exhilaration we feel in worship service with our new church community has told us that Holy Covenant UMC is, indeed, the place we can call home.

-Mark Owen & Jeff Rossen

… 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 Pastor Trey emphasizes at Holy Covenant, 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