I conducted two interviews: one interview with long-time, active church member and Secretary John Haselden and one interview with Reverend Rebecca Anderson. (Click here to see questions)

Reverend Rebecca Anderson

Reverend Anderson delivered a sermon on transfiguration. She delved not only into the transfiguration Jesus underwent with fellow prophets, Moses and Elijah, but also the important changes the church members would undoubtedly have to go through after the closing of this church. (A third but slightly more irrelevant mention of Transfiguration was its use in the Harry Potter series) Transfiguration and change are parts of life and must be accepted. It’s important to understand that change doesn’t mean an end, especially with the ending of this particular branch of the MCC. Rev. Anderson mentioned that many other branches of churches exist in the Bay Area, welcoming of the LGBT community. To help understand the acceptance of change, the Reverend spoke of the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. Most importantly, she discussed how Peter wanted to make tents for the three of them, trying to keep them at the mountain for a longer period of time. Just as Peter accepted the change to share the wisdom of Jesus with others, the church members must also learn to expand their societies beyond this particular church. The Reverend finished by assuring the people that just because this particular branch was closing didn’t mean the movement for equality for the LGBT community. She emphasized this by quoting Martin Luther King, who, in his 1967 “Beyond Vietnam” sermon at Stanford University, said “if we are to get on to the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must have a radical revolution of values.”

John Haseldon

John Haseldon is an active member of the Metropolitan Community Church of San Jose. He has worked with them for the past 15 years and was noted as secretary of the church for a time. Personally, he came out as a gay man in the early 70s after listening to a speech by Harvey Milk, a politician from California and the first openly gay politician to be elected to office. Haseldon noted that it was difficult to deal with being openly gay in the 70s. He had to face retaliation from his family and his own church. He found that living in the Bay Area was definitely lucky for him because of the relative level of acceptance. He remembers listening to then Senator Barack Obama speaking at San Francisco, saying that if there were any ideas, no matter how liberal or radical, you would hear them at San Francisco. He went through many phases of religions until he finally came to the Metropolitan Community Church in San Jose. He liked how the MCC didn’t have any one particular denomination: it’s multicultural. The way it is run differs with every reverend that is in charge, but regardless, it is always welcoming of all types of people.