A Tale of Two Singers Part One - Bertie's Place

Image by courtesy of Brachers LLP

Wow! She was every bit as brilliant as I'd hoped she'd be. That musical wrecking ball Elton John had swung into my life two months ago. Bruised, beautiful, broken, brilliant, Brandi Carlile. The sweet softness of Stay Gentle exploded into the visceral hard-rocking Broken Horses . And then she slew me. The opening lines to The Story:

“You see the lines across my face that tell you the story of who I am ... Her siren voice reached in and struck that secret chord, spreading delicious chills through my spine,

across my skin ....

... But these stories don't mean anything when you've got no one to tell them to. It's true, I was made for you."

And what a privilege - the three of us sharing her girl in the fairy palace moment - in the theatre of her childhood dreams, the Royal Albert Hall - all red velvet with gilt and wedding cake decor, serenading her childhood idol, Elton - hidden somewhere in the shadows behind us. Just us and Elton ... Oh, and 5,000 others ...

You could read her joy in every word, note, movement and smile . She'd arrived at the

place she'd always longed to be, was destined to be, with her twin guardian "angel"-men either side, Phil and Tim. For there’ve always been angels in her life. She overflowed with

thankfulness for where God had brought her together with the loves of her life, her wife,

Catherine, and their two girls. Above all, they were the ones she told her story to, the ones she was made for.

My watch flashed a message. Vicky. Vicky Beeching. She was messaging to send me a photo for my website I'd requested - the site I'd just launched today. She apologised for the delay, explaining that her health was at a really low point. A different chill – a blast of biting, bitter wind blew on me. And just for a moment, sadness swallowed up the joy. Vicky would have loved to play this venue, but her musical career had been snatched from her. And right now she probably wouldn't even be well enough to sit in this audience.

These two outrageously God-gifted gay women - what had brought them to these two very

different places? Wasn’t it how two very different messages had impacted their lives? Traditionalist and affirming. A teaching that told queer people that to accept Jesus they had to reject their sexuality and any same-sex partner. And a teaching that told queer people Jesus loved and celebrated them just as they were together with the person they fell in love with, whatever their gender happened to be.

This blog has been written with Vicky Beeching's kind consent. Brandi Carlile's is still awaited!

Next time: Part Two - “Broken horse” Brandi

To explore further why, I believe, affirming same-sex marriage fulfils Scripture's truth test of producing good fruit - please read my section The Answers - in short medium or long versions.