John of John & Whistler

 

I've read a fair amount of fiction this year, actual page-turning books, challenging my screen brain. I'd say that my two favourite novels so far in 2026 are John of John by Booker winner John Stewart and Whistler by celebrated Anne Patchett. John of John is raw and unflinching like the Scottish Hebrides, while Whistler is elegant and yet probing, reflecting the largely New York City setting. I kept blatting phrases to Ruth (she's read them both) because the writing and storytelling compelled me to do so.

I didn't know that both had key male characters who had married women but were gay. They made this choice in a time when that was what transpired for many LGBTQ persons who wanted to fit into a largely homophobic society.  In both instances these men became fathers as well. One of these characters did so because he was religious.

As I finished Whistler it occurred to me that these sort of scenarios played out quite a number of times during my ministry. Actually, before I was ordained Ruth and I became good friends with a couple where the husband was also a student in our seminary. We were shocked when they parted company because of his orientation and he was one of the first to be open with the "powers that were" who to their credit approved him for ordination. We remained friends until his death. 

I worked with a music director in one congregation who had been married with four children. Eventually he separated from his spouse but it was only after his kids were grown and his mother died that he become open about being gay. He ended up with a wonderful male partner. 

I began ministry in another congregation as a significant scandal unfolded where a key member left her husband for another prominent figure. Her husband was gay but he was concerned about his status in the community and wanted to maintain the marriage for appearances sake. It was a mess. 

In my final congregation a wise and supportive retired minister who had been married to a woman. His daughter came to worship when she was visiting and she accepted that her dad eventually married his same-sex partner. In that same congregation the man who became chair of the board just before I left talked about his decades-long determination to make his conventional marriage work because of his conservative Christian faith. His wife eventually encouraged him to be true to himself as a gay man and he chose the United Church. 

None of these situations would have been imaginable in my youth, yet all were very real and the characters in these two novels ring true. Read them both!