Belovèd
It was early Sunday morning, and the MacKenzie house was quiet.
Kevin awakened, and without moving, watched an early morning ray
of sun poke around a window shade in Cam's room. The sunbeam
eventually came to rest on one of Cam's legs, which had somehow
freed itself from the covers toward the foot of their bed.
Like most of Cam's body except for head, armpits and groin, his
leg was smooth and bare except for just a few golden hairs now glinting
in the errant ray of sunlight.
The two boys' heads were on a single pillow facing one another,
and Kevin breathed in the sweet scent of his lover's breath as Cam
continued to sleep. Cam's long, sandy eyelashes were at rest,
his face in repose looking completely relaxed and as good good natured
as his temperament.
"Lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky." The word sang silently
and repeatedly in Kevin's head as he gazed on his partner's face,
loving him, wanting to kiss those beautiful lips and look into those
green eyes that never failed to give him chills when the two of
them were "up close and personal." Lucky, lucky,
lucky me, he thought to himself. He had so much love for this
boy that his chest tightened up as he continued to study that face,
not wanting to wake him by making even the slightest gesture of
affection. None of the superlatives, none of the laudations,
none of the encomiums that he had grudgingly read in his high school
literature classes in the poetry of love came close to describing
his feelings for Cameron Alexander MacKenzie, his Scots Highlander
boy nonpareil.
The joy and satisfaction of being in a relationship with Cam far,
far outweighed the negative things that had happened to him in his
life. And some of those things had indeed been debilitating.
The death of his mother after a long, cruel illness had been terrible.
The rocky and unloving relationship with his natural father had
been corrosive. The beating he had sustained at the hands
of Heather's brothers had almost killed him and drained him of every
ounce of strength he had during recuperation. And the news
that Heather was pregnant, requiring him to step up to the plate
and take on the care of their baby following birth rather than let
the girl abort the child, had been more than draining.
It would never have occurred to Kevin, but the events that had happened
to him had helped form his character, and that character was nothing
of which he had to be ashamed.
Who had been at his side through all the challenging events that
had helped, and were helping, to shape his character? The
boy's face was right in front of him. Being honest with himself,
Kevin didn't believe that he would have made it intact without Cam.
He believed he might not even be physically alive without what Cam
had done for him at the hospital.
Kevin knew his friendship with Cam had many facets, but respect
and admiration were solidly intertwined with the physical passion
for one another which had only strengthened over time.
As a matter of fact, they'd gotten damn good at having sex with
each other. That physical relationship with his partner had
helped sustain him, Kevin knew, and he gave thanks for it every
day. Their sex was guiltless, but there was much more to their
bond than that. The world could say what it would about the
physical love of two males for each other, and it could scorn them,
but Kevin knew it was more than right for him and Cam. He
rejoiced in the spiritual and emotional bond they had together as
well. More and more he was feeling that he wasn't going to
go out of his way to hide his sexual orientation anymore, either.
He'd concluded that to some degree it would be an insult to his
partner's love for him to do so.
Catherine's reaction when he and Cam had come out to her had further
secured her a place in Kevin's affections, exceeded only by what
he felt for Cam himself. The love and kindness and acceptance
she had shown the two of them in the midst of their uncertainty
about what they could say back then to a third party about their
love for each other and what they couldn't say, had been phenomenal.
Kevin knew there was nothing he would not do for this person he
now considered his mother. He had the same feelings for Alex
and John. They were all now his family, without a doubt, and
the Carsons and Emricks were certainly also on the verge of being
family in the truest sense of the word.
Breaking Kevin's train of thought, Cam stirred a little and his
eyes slowly drifted open. He found himself staring in Kevin's
brown eyes, and a slow smile spread over his face. He inched
his head toward Kevin's and gently put his lips on those of his
partner, and just left them there, unmoving.
A soft knock sounded on their bedroom door, but the two boys didn't
move an inch, still holding their kiss. Carl Emrick opened
the door and looked in, standing there barechested in his boxers.
"Oh, shit!" Carl said when he saw what Cam and Kevin were
doing, tame as it was. "Are you guys at it 24/7 or what?"
"Well yeah!!" Kevin said, turning his head to look at
Carl. "DUH!"
Carl came in and sat on the edge of the bed, looking at them.
"S'all right," he said. "I'm just jealous I'm
not getting laid every night like you two."
"We'll work on that for ya," Cam said, laughing.
"Cool. But I'm really here on a mission from Catherine,"
Carl said. "She says to get your lazy asses up and showered
so we can go to church."
"She said that?" Kevin questioned.
"Well, not exactly. I put it in words I was sure you
yokels would understand."
"Get him!" Cam instructed.
Kevin quickly grabbed Carl around the neck and pulled him down into
the bed, where Cam proceeded to tickle the kid until he had tears
in his eyes.
"You assholes!" Carl said as he finally escaped Kevin's
grasp and jumped out of bed with a big bulge in his boxers.
He headed for the door.
"Assholes, huh," Kevin said. "You're probably
right. But we can make it up to you. You wanna shower
with us?"
"Dream on!" Carl said decisively, grinning. He shut
the bedroom door behind him and walked back down the hall toward
his and William's room.
The two guys looked at each other.
"Church!" Cam said to his partner. "You really
need it."
"I need it! What about you?"
"Moi? That's cheeky of you." Cam grabbed a
chunk of Kevin's muscular ass and gave it a squeeze.
"You're too bold for your own good sometimes," Kevin said.
"I don't have time to discipline you now, but expect me to
take you in hand later."
"I'm counting on it," Cam said, climbing out of bed as
clumsily as he could over Kevin's frame and making a beeline for
the bathroom.
Kevin followed, and soon they were in the shower, washing each other,
each enjoying the touch of his partner.
The churchgoers all met downstairs when they were ready. The
adults were conservatively dressed, and the boys were all in polo
shirts and khaki pants except for Dan Emrick, who was wearing blue
jeans.
"Dan, change into some khakis, please," Ian said.
Dan went back upstairs without protest and changed.
Thirty minutes later, all nine members of the extended MacKenzie
household were walking into St. Andrew's Episcopal Church.
The place was packed. The ushers gave them Sunday bulletins,
and after reverencing the altar the family occupied a full pew toward
the back of the church on the gospel side after the ushers moved
a few people to another pew. The family had just knelt and
finished their personal prayers when the organist finished the prelude
and began playing the opening hymn. The choir and altar party
processed down the center aisle behind the thurifer and crucifer.
The celebrant of the Mass was last in the procession moving toward
the altar, and Cam looked over curiously as he passed their pew.
Dressed in his alb and green chasuble, the priest was a tall, older
man with gray hair. Walking just in front of him was another
priest, young and handsome, also tall and well built, but with jet
black hair. Cam knew at a glance from the way he moved that
the guy was a jock. The bulletin said he would be preaching
the homily that day.
The service began as the older priest censed the altar and offered
the opening prayers, followed by a reading each from the Old and
New Testaments. Then the Gospel book, bound in a gold cover,
was processed down the middle aisle of the church to its center
by the young priest and acolytes, and the Gospel for the day was
sung there. After the book was returned to its stand in the
sanctuary, the younger priest moved down to the pulpit when it was
time to preach. Cam and Kevin glanced at each other as the
priest began to speak, preparing to zone out and rest their eyes.
That didn't pan out once the preacher warmed to his topic, because
he had an engaging preaching style and did not read his homily from
a manuscript or even refer to any notes, looking right at the people
as he spoke.
The young priest took as his text several of the verses from the
Old Testament lesson which had just been read that morning from
Leviticus: "When you reap the harvest of your land, you
shall not reap your field to its very border, neither shall you
gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not
strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes
of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and for the
sojourner: I am the Lord your God."
Coming down from the pulpit and standing at the altar rail to continue,
the priest stated that "the poor" are specifically mentioned
203 times in the Old and New Testaments, with the preponderance
of those occurrences being admonitions about the responsibilities
of those who are well-off in life to provide for the those in poverty.
203 times. He pointed out that verses in Scripture about poverty
outnumbered instructions on sexual matters by more than twenty to
one.
The priest began to outline the well documented concerns of the
Hebrews and early Christians about poverty in the societies of their
day compared with current economic policies in the United States.
He mentioned that the Hebrews were required to forgive all debts
every seven years, periodically putting those on the bottom rung
of society back on an even keel. He then contrasted that care
for the poor with our modern-day national policies in the United
States, which were systematically depriving the poor of what little
they had, and further widening the gap between rich and poor in
our country to the peril of democracy itself.
To illustrate his point, the priest went on to discuss the aftermath
of the recent hurricanes along the Gulf Coast, especially in New
Orleans, where the impoverished were so deprived that they did not
even have the wherewithal to flee the wrath of the storms, and were
trapped on highway overpasses and in sports arenas. He said
that the TV pictures were graphic proof of what government at all
levels, and particularly at the national level, tried to ignore
about the depths of poverty in our country, and the effects of it
on the living, breathing human beings who are creatures of God.
He said that the hurricanes had ripped the scab off a festering
wound in our society which many in power would prefer to keep hidden,
and went on to cite economic statistics in support of his assertions
about poverty. He added that it appeared that the nation was
losing ground when it came to meeting its challenge.
The young priest eventually concluded his homily with these questions:
"Where are the prophets in our midst who should be calling
God's people to repent concerning this matter of poverty?
The religious community is practically mute on what is happening
to the poor. Many who do consider themselves to be prophets
content themselves with railing about matters of sex and sexual
orientation rather than concerning themselves with whether people
have enough food in their stomachs to make it to the next day.
Among all those who love to carry around their Bibles and glory
at being "seen in the temple," as Jesus once criticized,
are there none to stand up and be counted on the side of the angels
when it comes to issues of poverty in this nation?
"Brothers and sister, God doesn't care whether we are Republicans
or Democrats or Independents. But we need to answer God's
call to us to love our neighbor as ourselves. We have a duty
in the political arena to support those who will pursue the economic
well-being of all God's children. If any of us is wondering
who our neighbor is, just think about Jesus' parable of the Good
Samaritan, and we will know.
"If we are mandated to be 'pro-life,' we need to be pro-life
in all of its ramifications, not just those which happen to appeal
to us. Let's think about the good of our neighbor, particularly
when our neighbor is poor. God expects no less."
The priest crossed himself after speaking his final words, and then
returned to the sanctuary and sat down.
Cam and Kevin were both stunned and elated to hear such clarity
and honesty coming from the pulpit. If they had not been strangers
in that church and seated with their extended family, they would
have applauded. Kevin looked down the row at his family, and
saw Ian sitting there with a big smile on his face and Catherine
nodding her head in agreement with what she'd heard. All the
boys were awake and looking bright-eyed.
When it was time for communion, all nine of them went up to the
altar rail to receive it.
The adults had not planned to stay for the usual coffee hour after
Mass, but decided they would so they could introduce themselves
to the clergy and some of the parishioners. They particularly
wanted to thank the young priest for his homily.
The two priests had removed their vestments within a few minutes
and joined the crowd in the parish house. Eventually, the
young priest circulated by them, and Ian took the opportunity to
introduce himself and the extended family to him.
"We're so glad to have you here," the young priest said
with a smile. "I'm Jim Mason, the newest curate on staff."
"Father, your homily was excellent today!" Catherine told
him.
"Thank you so much," Father Mason said. "I
try not to overdo the social gospel, but as Christians, we do need
to do right by our neighbor."
"We agree with you on that!" Mary Carson said. "You're
absolutely right about the silence that seems to have gripped the
churches and the electorate when it come to caring for the poor.
It was wonderful to hear the gospel preached on that topic for a
change."
They continued talking for a few minutes, and the priest had Catherine
fill out a visitor's card for herself and all the boys. Father
Mason said he would like set up an appointment to call on the family
within the next few days, and Catherine gave him her card and invited
him to call her at the university to set up a time.
The family went back out to the Navigator, which barely held them
all, and with Carl driving, off they went to a greasy spoon for
brunch, courtesy of Ian.
After they ate and went home, Cam found his thoughts returning to
how good looking the young priest at St. Andrew's had been, and
hoping he would get to see him again soon. Little did he know
how much the family would need the young priest's spiritual strength
and comfort in the days to come.