By: Rev. Jane McBride and Rev. Jen Nagel 11/01/2012
As we prepare to go to the polls to make important decisions about marriage and family, we appreciate the opportunity to tell you the story of our family.
We got to know each other working at camp. One day, venturing out in a canoe, we found ourselves drifting rather than paddling. We talked for hours. We felt as though we had known each other our whole lives. As time went on, the intensity of our friendship surprised us.
We are people of faith. Both of us were raised in the church. Both of us attended seminary and have gone on to be ordained and serve as pastors here in the Twin Cities.
Falling in love was a wonderful and terrifying experience. We wrestled with questions about God, marriage and family. In the end, we realized that our love, like all love, is a gift from God. God has created us just as we are, and God made us for each other.
We made promises to share love and commitment for a lifetime. We brought our friends and families together so that we could publicly affirm those promises in a service of worship. Our marriage only continues to grow and deepen after 12 years.
After years of preparing and waiting and hoping, our daughter’s birthmother chose us to parent her baby. We met our daughter at the hospital when she was two hours old. At three, she is our joy each and every day.
Our family, created through loving commitment, is a gift from God and a gift to our community. By the lives that we lead, we teach our daughter daily what it means to follow Jesus, loving God and neighbor.
We hope that you, as our neighbors, will choose to honor and protect the gift of families like ours. Join us in voting “no” on the marriage amendment.
Rev. Jane McBride and Rev. Jen Nagel,
McKinley