Be Gay

Ya, so it's not what you're thinking. I mean partially, yes, why not? Gay is a wonderful word in every way. However, please hone in on today's title as I hope to envelope you in cheerful, merry, lighthearted fun so we can all prove that being gay simply canNOT be DATED!!!!??? 😞

Please search for yourself. Any current definition of "gay" relating to happiness is at number 2, 3, or later and is always preceded by "dated" or "old-fashioned". I wonder if anyone finds that as sadly telling as I do? It's time we get our happy back and BE GAY Ya'll!!!

My blog today is dedicated to my wonderful, new church community here in Houston, Texas. Bering United is open to all and the GAY label is proudly worn in every definition; including the one where you will feel joy throughout each service. Shortly after I moved here in October of 2021, I wanted to find some community so I googled, "Inclusive churches near me." I fully expected to try a few out before clicking with one. And this may sound awful to some people, but I am not ashamed of my faith, even if it comes with almost no theological knowledge, if it had been a Buddhist Temple or Synagogue or anything that fit the key word, "inclusive", that is where I would have gone. Bering United Methodist Church popped up as like the first 3 options so I glanced through their website and saw "10:50a.m. Sundays" and knew we were off to a good start! A 10:50a.m. start time for church is my jam!! And it is only blocks away.

From that first visit and every one thereafter, I knew I found my community. The moment you walk into Bering you feel welcomed. You really feel it. They have a variety of music - a lovely choir and various musicians. There is a wonderful 'children's time' that is brief, but lovely in the beginning of service so the kids can then go to their service and various clergymen and women and others shine in their roles throughout each service every Sunday. Pastor Diane is our church leader and Associate Pastor Bodie has been instrumental in embracing me with open arms, offering me many opportunities to get involved. I think my favorite two parts of Sunday service are both sermon time and communion! Can you believe that? I grew up Catholic! Those two elements were like the worst parts of mass!! I mean I guess communion was okay because you knew the end was near-er! I would like to add here that I LOVED our church growing up and our Priest's name was Father Faith! Yes it was! And he was lovely and sweet and I felt dirty whenever I was too close to him because he was that pure! I knew from a young age I was a heartfelt soul with enormous, heavy empathy, yet I was also naughty, mischievous, problematic!! I swear, even when I was just like 7, I remember thinking Father Faith would sense my mischievous nature with his purity. Dang, my mom frickin knew everyone and was always dragging me into everyone's house. Father Faith lived in a house directly next to our church and it was like 8 clean walls, a kitchen, a living room, bedroom and bathroom with a cross on the wall. What was I supposed to do there at 7 years old? Sit and visit? Lol. I think I'd always end up going outside to play in the alley. Thank God for alleys.

Back to Bering! I love the sermons at Bering! Pastor Diane is like stellar!!!! No script! From the soul! I cry every Sunday. Sometimes it's an angry cry, a sorrowful cry, a feel good cry - but it's always a cry! We have much to cry about, I think, and I am, as they say, here for it all! And Pastor Bodie is so full of love. I hear his voice and I smile. Communion is lovely because there are a few songs during communion that just infect our already uplifted Sunday with more light. One is like, 🎵"....at this table, everyone is welcome, at this table everyone is seen...."🎵 and of course, it emulates the inclusivity of Bering United. The other is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PXlTIJayg0 "For All the Children" and I do not care if you think I am being cheesy, but everyone sings it during communion and I honestly think that it embodies what I have always believed about my understanding of God. I encourage you to listen and see the lyrics. They're lovely. And no matter who you are. No matter what you believe or don't believe. Bering welcomes you. In fact, this young man who had just come out as gay was turned away by his church and he saw Pastor Diane in her collar AND her rainbow pumps at some store and felt safe enough to inquire about her church! On Easter Sunday, this wonderful person became a member at Bering! I called and told my mom how thankful I was to go all of my childhood simply believing God is love. That's pretty much it. And in my book, anyone who has a faith in any higher power that symbolizes love & compassion like the God I have known, well that's all a win. I just cannot get behind believing in something or someone that would cause harm or hate on anyone in any way. I guess I have to believe that those who cause pain or those who are even evil are at the hands of justice in this life and the next.

Well, the rest of "Be Gay" is about some recent opportunities where I get in the kitchen at Bering Anddddd meet so many more lovely people! Thank you for joining me on tableforsue! I wish us all some happiness.

What actually inspired this title (Be Gay) was when I sent this picture to a group text thread, one of Lars' daughters commented on how it captures pure happiness. I definitely think what we all have in common is that we just want to be happy. So the happy paired with the wonderfully diverse community of Bering, I loved "Be Gay" & I hope you will too.

Pastor Bodie asked me to prepare a meal for 75 for Maundy Thursday (The Last Supper). In the past they had a Mediterranean theme take out meal so I happily accepted the challenge to prepare a "Mediterranean-Style" Menu. I can see the "happy" here too. I told my dad that I rolled 300 meatballs and I betcha any money every one of them were the same size! lol. It is just a "Nana Knows" thing.

So this is one of almost 4 pans. An odd array; but lucky 77 !!

20lbs ground beef to 20lbs ground lamb - lots of fresh mint, parsley, basil - fresh bread crumbs ground with toasted pinenuts & garlic - stewed san marzano tomatoes & onion - egg - seasoning (I may have thrown in some pecorino)

Here's the menu. It was really fun to come up with and the hard work was welcomed! Cooking for people is such a thrill! I would have done the soup later, omitted 1/2 the rice!!, and garnished with herbs and a squeeze of lemon if I could do it over again. I would have taken pictures of everything too, but I was busy. Everything went so well and people enjoyed it very much. I can't wait to do Italian though! SMILE

I made all of the dips except the hummus & I made homemade tzatziki :)

A very special honor

I was feelin' all bad ass about to spend all of Wednesday and all of Thursday in this here kitchen! Grace & Frankie was on in the background for part of the hours and I would swap that out with 80s tunes. I texted my brother Jimmer because he is a Chef and I had to do my fair share of Cost Co and HEB runs that's for sure! Oh, and Central Market twice!

For some reason I snapped a shot of the shrooms. I only had 3 vegetarians, so I decided to do these portobello shrooms with a yummy homemade pinenut/breadcrumb topping. When I went out to check on folks, one of the ladies eating one of these said her table was eyeing them the whole time! lol I only made this many. I am so happy she enjoyed them. They also had some red wine bathing.

A really special part of the evening was that Lars came to help out with service and it was his birthday. I was so happy to introduce him to some of my friends at church. Pastor Bodie is in the back there. Together, we chose a great set of 'family style' dishes that we could either dispose of or soak and reuse for another time. Another church member, Constance, came at noon on Thursday and helped save my butt from a lot of chopping and prepping. Constance ran this kitchen many a time for many years so even though I had to focus on putting out the best food I could, I wanted to be sure to ease into her territory. Especially once my other volunteers came. She knew them and had worked with them before. She was a tough cookie. I'm not too shabby myself. By the end of the evening, I ran to catch her before she went home and thanked her so much. I loved when she said, "you're so brave." The servers and kitchen friends were all so lovely and Lars and I made some new wine friends! I made a homemade HOT condiment and went around during the main course to see if anyone loved HEAT. It was a nice way to check in with all of the diners. Everyone gave such great feedback. I blinked and everyone was gone except for me and Pastor Bodie. Ooops, another thing I would do differently is have a little meeting so everyone knew their roles for the night. Lol. I once had to say, "hey, if you aren't going to do anything, outta da kitchen..." But I didn't think to say, "is someone going to help with the dishes?" I encouraged Pastor Bodie to get home, but he stayed for a good while longer. Finally, he bid goodnight and I finished cleaning up to Grace and Frankie. I was exhausted. But so, so happy!

Over 30 hours of bliss from menu planning, shopping, cooking plus - I loved every minute & the thank you's are everything....

Don't ya love when you can soften a tough cookie? oxoxo

and lol on the telemarketer comment 🤣

Check this out! Pastor Bodie asked me to do some cooking classes with our kiddos at church! Can't wait!! The next 3 Sundays....

This first Sunday we are STARTING WITH Dessert!! (Not my first rodeo!)

Of course, Lars and I are out of town for one of the Sunday classes, so Pastor Bodie is subbing! SMILE. I hooked him up with a very user friendly recipe; "Pinwheels."

I hope this is the beginning of many more to come! oxox

My beautiful place of faith where all are welcome.

Everyone!

All kinds of nooks and crannies in our church - reminds me of older buildings in my town growing up. There's like a store upstairs and well, love!!! I just wanted to pose with her so Pastor Bodie would laugh while taking the photos. Mission accomplished. Lol

(It's a Decoy - like Frankie would say from Grace and Frankie)

Here's to having lots of gay in your life!