Everyone accepts me for exactly who I am: A conversation with Chapel on the Green community member Carolyn

Before Carolyn first attended Chapel on the Green over three years ago, she had been to her fair share of churches. "A lot of them, if you didn't dress a certain way or act a certain way, you weren't welcome," she says. But then she ran into Reverend Luk on the street. He invited her to Chapel on the Green. She dismissed him at first, but then, "I kept seeing him, and he kept on asking, so finally, I came."

For Carolyn, Chapel on the Green is different than other churches: "Everyone accepts me for exactly who I am," she tells me, "So I keep coming back." The best part is that everyone is welcome. "It doesn't matter who you are, or where you come from, or what you're wearing," she says.

For Carolyn, the Prayers of the People, which happen each week after the sermon, are her favorite part. There, people can share their authentic selves with their community; authenticity is something Carolyn deeply values: "People are seen for who they really are, and they are all children of God." During the prayers, people clasp their hands and bow their heads, or they raise their hands toward the sky in praise or supplication, joy or frustration; they shout their prayers or they mumble them or they keep them in the silence of their heart. Each week, Carolyn prays for people who are homeless, people facing the challenge of mental illness, people who are struggling with addiction, and world peace. "Life is too short to have hate in your heart," she tells me.

When I asked Carolyn what her hopes are for Chapel on the Green, she says, "I hope people keep coming, because it's important for us to be together."