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REIDSVILLE — Waiting backstage at a Greensboro Symphony production to give a presentation in 2008, Chesley “Ches” Kennedy  was making small talk with a fellow member of the group’s board of directors when he mentioned his work on a degree in religious studies.

“Her first response was —‘Oh, you are going to be a minister,’ ” recalled Kennedy, who referenced the miracle of Moses in his sarcastic reply. “I laughed and said, ‘Not unless I see a ‘burning bush.’ ”

Walking to his seat afterward, Kennedy then was stopped by an older gentleman he knew.

“He grabbed my arm and lifted himself out of his seat and said, ‘You ought to be a preacher.’ “

Then came two more seemingly out-of-the-blue comments about ministry in the following days — including one from his pastor.

“I’m not trying to make something that happened sound like a miracle or a burning bush — it may or may not have been God’s voice,” Kennedy said. “But it sure sounded like it.

“I promise, after those things happened, I woke up, and I was here.”

Kennedy, 41, had always considered himself a spiritual person — just not along the lines of ordained ministry. But the former proprietor of the popular O’Kennedy’s high-end clothing store in Greensboro is now an intern at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, preparing to give his first sermon in just a few weeks.

“You do have to have a sense that God is calling you to do this,” said the Rev. Vicki Smith, the rector at St. Thomas . “It might be Saul on the Road to Damascus (with a light from Heaven and the voice of God) or a gradual growing awareness. We all have had questions and doubts.”

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The running gag never seems to get old.

“I’ve always been a man of the cloth,” deadpans Kennedy.

That’s because the Winston-Salem native, who has a knack for putting people at ease, has worked in retail since he was 16, including a clothing store in downtown Greensboro while a student at UNCG. “I loved selling people clothes — but that was almost secondary to building relationships with people,” Kennedy said of what would become an integral part of his spiritual formation. “I wore parachute pants so I can’t say I wasn’t a slave to fashion.”

Soon, he was working more and taking fewer classes. Eventually, when the owners sold the store 12 years later, he decided to go into business for himself. He still hadn’t earned a degree, but he loved what he was doing.

The job was, however, becoming less and less about the perfect business suit or party dress, but what these things often masked: hurting souls.

“There was a ministry there, for me,” Kennedy said. “I didn’t care what you had on, I really cared about what you carried inside.”

At the same time, he was growing more annoyed with himself for not finishing his college degree. He decided to close the shop and go back to school.

So, on Dec. 31, 2007, he locked the store’s doors for the last time.

“I was walking down McGee Street and a physical fear that I felt from the deepest part of my gut came over me, like nothing I had ever felt, and I said, ‘What have I done?’ ” Kennedy said.

“At the same moment, I heard a voice in my head and the voice said, ‘You don’t have to be afraid unless you want to be afraid.’ And if you can imagine a heating blanket being wrapped around your shoulder — an immediate warmth came over me. I know that was God’s voice.”

Just a few months later he would attend the Greensboro symphony event. Afterward, he went to his pastor, telling her he would be willing to explore where God might be leading him. She submitted his name to the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina.

Last May, Kennedy earned that religious studies degree from UNCG and last week he  started Divinity School at Duke University. In the meantime, he’ll work with a discernment committee and Bishop Michael Curry , which could lead to his ordination.

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Ever since Kennedy walked into the downtown church with the beautiful stained glass windows and wooden pews, he’s been smitten.

“It’s not a huge congregation, but the people are deep, are thoughtful and in touch with outreach, which I think is amazing at a small church like that,” Kennedy said of St. Thomas. “These are really warm, wonderful people.”

It’s the way he feels about the Episcopal Church, too. Kennedy didn’t grow up Episcopalian, he chose it.

Early on as a student at UNCG, he made appointments with the ministers of three local churches: Catholic, Baptist, Episcopal.

“I was a musician, I was friendly, I’d be a great member of the choir … and oh, by the way, I told them, ‘I’m gay,’ ” he recalled.

“The Baptist was going to heal me — it was love the sinner, hate the sin. The Catholic priest said something I’ve since blocked out of my mind — but nobody was mean. The Episcopal priest looked at me with these sincere eyes and said, ‘Are you OK?’ That’s the first time someone had asked me, ‘Are you OK?’ I said yes. He said, ‘Good, do you have other questions?’ My being gay wasn’t an issue.”

Even as the debate has heated in his own denomination over the issue of gay leadership in the church, he doesn’t regret the choice.

“My (biological) brothers are totally opposite of me with religion and politics, but I love my brothers dearly,” Kennedy said. “It’s the way I feel about the Episcopal Church right now. We may not agree, but we love each other dearly.”

As part of his internship duties at St. Thomas, Kennedy  has helped to staff the church’s “cooling center,” which opens on week days to give the elderly a place to go during the heat of the day. He also helped to hand out bags of food at the Reidsville Outreach Center, an interdenominational ministry to the community. 

Assisting the rector at St. Thomas has allowed him to explore all forms of work at the church, including administrative and educational components, along with liturgy, outreach and pastoral care.

Now comes one of those hallmark moments in his journey.

As he stood in front of the empty sanctuary recently, practicing what he’ll say during his first sermon, those tears that always seem to fall in gratitude, in sympathy, in joy — just always — seemed again ready to drop. Kennedy imagined his parents, his partner, his friends, seated amongst the parishioners whose hugs and handshakes welcomed him into their family.

“Vicki may hear it and say, ‘That’s theologically incorrect, change it,’ ” Kennedy said before Smith joined him in the sanctuary for the run-through. “I want to make sure that if this is the one chance I ever get to give a sermon, that God’s voice comes through me.”

 In January , Curry, the bishop, could “redirect” Kennedy to lay ministry or move him forward in the ordination process. Kennedy can’t help but chuckle at one aspect of the priesthood.

“I have worried about what I’m going to look like somewhere, all my life,” Kennedy said. “What’s going to be wonderful is, if I’m going to be ordained, I’m so excited about wearing a black shirt and a white collar. I look good in black and a white collar, you just put it on and go.”

Contact Nancy McLaughlin at 373-7049 or nancy.mclaughlin@news-record.com