When my pastor, Carolyn Talmadge asked me to speak today I began to think about the ways in which I wanted to explain how I arrived at this place in my life.

    No matter how I looked at it I continuously came back to the same conclusion, it is simply this, when I was sixteen I left home, I spent the next six years moving from place to place and during that time I never once unpacked.

     I lived out of boxes in anticipation of my next move but on the first day that I came into the Ecumenical House I unpacked every single box I had.  

    I knew with out a doubt that this was the place that I was I was supposed to be, the Lord had brought me here for a reason. It seemed that once again I had been placed exactly where I was to be.

    Getting there wasn't’ easy or even all that pleasant but I had finally found MY home.

    A home that is not defined by four walls but by the lives of those who surround me, my community.

    The Ecumenical House members, the majority of whom are on this stage with me, have each had a role in helping me to come to this place

    These are the individuals who have accepted me while continuously challenging me to grow not only for the betterment of the community but to expand and deepen my relationship with God.

    They have allowed me to be exactly as I am, a lesbian, a believer in evolution and one who constantly questions and because of this I have come to an understanding of God that I never knew could of existed, an easier, kinder understanding of God that has often alluded me.

    Through the Ecumenical  House I found friendship, family, camaraderie and most of all love and at its essence that is what God is.

    No matter how one may see or connect with God ultimately it is about love. The love that we have for the Lord and for one another

    I see Gods love every day in the people who surround me...

In Kira’s smile and warm embrace in Darrel's laugh, in Reese's quiet wisdom in Erica's scientific prowess, In Ose’s exceptional voice and in the work that Pastor Carolyn does for us every day I see Gods amazing gifts.

    Though we may all be very different we have chosen to stand together as a community, a community that I owe so very much to and with their support I have decided to be baptized and to join the Methodist church and because of that I can finally say that I am home