51 years ago, 12 people met together in a little pink house with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir streaming through a boombox. Rev. Troy Perry, a twice-defrocked Pentecostal & Baptist minister, put an ad in the Advocate magazine, wore his vestments, and consecrated communion over a coffee table that served as an altar. This was the first service of Metropolitan Community Churches where people, like us, now gather around the world each week to celebrate our loving God who made LGBTQ+ people in God's own image.
This week, articles of MCC's history were welcomed into the Smithsonian American History Museum. It was a momentous occasion where MCC's unique role in uniting spirituality and sexuality was honored and celebrated.
Many of the items donated were used in the very first days of MCC, including Rev. Troy's Book of Common Prayer, which he used as he conducted some of the first same-gender unions and far too many funerals of those who died due to complications from HIV/AIDS. When speaking of some of these things, he said that he kept good record of what happened in those early years because he knew he was making history; he knew what MCC was doing was important for the world.
46 years ago, MCCGSL became the first house of worship for gender and sexual minorities in St. Louis. In 2014, our own pastor, Rev. Wes, performed the first legal gay marriage in the State of Missouri. We, too, are doing ministry that makes history and is important for the world.
As MCC's story is made of us, we are history. While we look toward the next 50 years of MCC's history, what things do you want to be remembered for? What is the faithful legacy we will be a part of creating? How will we make the world more just, peaceful, and kind?
Join us this Sunday as we celebrate our shared history and consider what God may be calling us to next!