In Kalamazoo

There’s a man in the neighbourhood who’s slowly losing his mind.

He likes to take a walk; and the cruelty of Alzheimer’s means he often gets lost, and so is in danger of losing his pleasure.

His neighbours are fond of him; and so they clubbed together to instal these way marks to help him find his way home.

Looked at from the outside, the US can seem like a place of violence and cruelty; but what so often overwhelms me here is the amazing extent of people’s kindness.

Because it’s not just this dear man who gets confused: I do too.

I’m always needing landmarks: every street looks so similar to every other street, and I so easily feel lost.

But it’s not just me, either: everyone seems to need them.

My companion on the road to Boston Airport pointed out a gigantic cactus sign by a shopping mall.

It used to advertise a Tex-Mex restaurant which failed as a business and had to close its doors.

People didn’t seem to like the restaurant much, but they loved the sign, and didn’t want to see it go.

So they mounted a campaign to preserve it, and even though it doesn’t refer to anything any more it’s still there, as a landmark to guide people.

Guide people to what, exactly?

I really could do with more guides in here in Kalamazoo.

There’s a lot of space here, and they’ve filled it all up with roads.

So there’s a least 4 different ways to get from anywhere to anywhere else

And every road seems to have at least 5 or six churches along it

And because each church is bound to promise the way the truth and the life, I guess the Kalamazoo-ers feel the need for guidance too.

According to Google, there are 281 different churches and religious organisations in Greater Kalamazoo, which has a population of 72,800 people.

And that means there is one church for every 259 people, which is pretty amazing, and pretty confusing too, because besides all promising a different Way and a different Truth, and they all have the most astonishing and confusing initials…

The lovely people who invited and looked after me were the PUCC and the lovely church that hosted Queen Jesus were the POPLC and the other church I was aware of was the RCC, although I may have got that wrong, though I’m sure there was an R for ‘Reformed’ in there somewhere, and also a ‘C’ for ‘Christ’

And they had just had a Synod led by middle aged men in suits, who made the decisions, and middle-aged women in dresses, who made the sandwiches, and had decided to go back on an earlier decision of a couple of years ago 

Because God was telling them that they mustn’t be open and affirming any more about LGBT+ people and instead revert to being nasty to us

And that anyone in their denomination who had the temerity to show anything resembling Christian charity towards us should be punished.

So there’s probably a split coming, there often is, which is one reason why there are so many churches in Kalamazoo.

Trying to find out which church to go to is very confusing. It’s a bit like trying to order breakfast: there are just so many options to choose from.

And maybe that’s one reason why if you go to Trip Advisor it’ll tell you the ‘Ten Best Churches in Kalamazoo;

And why the churches on the bottom of the list are probably not doing so well.

While it’s true that the open and affirming churches tend to do better than the closed and condemning ones, it doesn’t always work out this way.

Which is why I ended up speaking at a ‘Meet The Author’ event in in this magnificent building:

This is the First Baptist Church of Kalamazoo: the oldest surviving public building in the city. It had a huge congregation right up to the mid twentieth century; in 1931 it even built a four storey extension to accommodate its Sunday School…

… and in 1998 they raised a million dollars to build a huge new organ with 3,638 pipes and a beautiful grand piano too.

“Jesus didn’t turn anyone away”, the say, “and neither do we. Here you are asked only to be yourself because you are welcome here!”

First Baptist Kalamazoo

But they still only have about 12 people worshipping here on a well attended Sunday and everyone is in their seventies.

I feel sad for them. But good things have come out of this sadness, because they sold the whole building to a non- profit organisation called Kalamazoo Nonprofit Advocacy Coalition, or KNAC for short,

And that’s why I’m speaking there, with my name almost but not quite in lights

Because one of the organisations using the place is QTK, or the Queer Theatre of Kalamazoo, and they have plans for a cabaret/comedy space and a studio theatre…

And there is so much happening in the old sunday school building. It’s become a space for craft workers, a dance studio, a vocal ensemble, a jazz group and a focus for artists and craft workers and community groups…

It all confirms my hunch that maybe art spaces will become the new spiritual/community spaces.

While in the meantime I’m using a wonderful worship space as the theatre space for Jesus Queen Of Heaven…

Here in Prince of Peace church I can perform sitting on a splendid wooden throne, full of authority.

It really is magnificent, and I feel honoured to be performing here. The only problem is that with my wobbly legs it’s not too easy to get down those steps, and I’m terrified I’m going to trip over my dress in the process, not a good look, but on the other hand this Sanctuary has the most the most incredible font installed in it

It’s got a small basin for small people and a larger pool for grown-up people.

And it has hot and cold running water; which means that in the church you can hear water flowing.

And that is the most beautiful thing…

Part of my performance as Queen Jesus involves my version of a story in which Jesus speaks to a woman by a well and says that inside each one of us is a well of living water.

I’d just changed my version after an encounter with a beggar on a broiling hot pavement in Salem

And I could say, just when the story demanded it:

“Listen. Listen and you will hear the water flowing…”

And there was the most beautiful silence and everyone could hear it…

And it was truly magical.

The next day I was at the most beautiful worship service in Portage UCC, my other host church:

Not so grand but more egalitarian in its architecture.

And I so loved the service because it was so rooted in where we’re all at, and spoke to our bodies, our emotions and our thinking mind and was rooted in kindness and solidarity.

Portage UCC

It’s said that the name ‘Kalamazoo’ may come from an Ojibwa word meaning something like ‘smoke rising from the river’ and maybe that, too, was a way mark once.

What’s for sure is that here in this strange city I encountered nothing but the deepest kindness.

And in a confusing world, it’s kindness that shows the way home.