by Mary Lauver, Eastern Washington/Idaho Synod
After Trinity in Pullman, WA became an RIC congregation, we started attending the local Palouse Pride event. We had a table with a banner reading “Welcoming Churches”. A couple of beautiful young women with shining faces and bright eyes, Jennie and Joy, approached our table and Jennie began the conversation with “I love God, but I don’t love that I can’t be totally who I am at the church I attend. I can’t hold Joy’s hand during the service, and it bothers me a lot!” I replied, “well, you could come to Trinity and hold hands; you would be more than welcome.”
A few weeks later, Jennie and Joy came, and I sat with them, and when I saw them holding hands, I cried. They became valued and loved members of our congregation, helping serve communion, sometimes singing in the choir, and making good friends with some parishioners, especially our retired campus pastor and his wife.
Their careers and families took them to ‘the Holy Land’ of Minnesota, and we were sad to bid them farewell. When our campus pastor died, Jennie and Joy drove virtually non-stop from MN to WA to attend his memorial service, spent a few hours with us and then drove all the way back.
It was a beautiful witness to the difference it can make in peoples’ lives when a church makes an intentional and public welcome to ALL people. We love and miss you, Jennie and Joy! (Joy on left, Jennie on right.)
