My friend, Calvin Moreland

If, by chance you read this today, and it is before 7:00 pm Baltimore time, stop and say a prayer for my friend Cal. I got to know Cal at St Mark's Church in Baltimore when I started attending their Thursday evening Eucharist. St. Mark's is a wonderful old church, steeped in Anglo-Catholic Lutheranism. The congregation is probably a 50-50 mix of gays and straights, young and old. Cal wasn't straight nor was he young although he once may have been both. Or at least acted that way. Every Thursday night, Cal would greet me, call me "Padre" and ask how my week had been as though he actually cared. Truth be told, he did care and I appreciated it a whole hell of a lot and more, I think, than he knew.
Back in the day, Cal started out as a Lutheran pastor. I don't know if he was aware of his homosexuality or not then because, like many gay pastors, he married, had a family. Like some gay pastors, he finally got to the point where the church and he parted ways. He divorced, maintained a good relationship with all and eventually settled down with Billy Slaughter. On the surface, they seemed an odd couple but it was evident to all who really knew them that they loved each other deeply. Through it all, Cal never left the church, it left him. Cal never stopped serving the church, the church took his service for granted
I regret never really learning Cal's story when I lived in Baltimore. I guess it was enough at the time just to know he was my friend. I hope I was his, too.

In paradisum deducant te Angeli; in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Ierusalem. Chorus angelorum te suscipiat, et cum Lazaro quondam paupere æternam habeas requiem.

May angels lead you into Paradise; may the martyrs receive you at your coming and lead you to the holy city of Jerusalem. May a choir of angels receive you, and with Lazarus, who once was poor, may you have eternal rest.

Rest in peace, my friend Cal.