Key West’s incomparable Steve Torrence sports a wardrobe of altar vestments that would make the pope proud. He mixes and matches them to suit the liturgical seasons, from green or scarlet to brilliant white and gold. The spectacular ones he gets from Belgium. But he swears he buys the rest on Amazon.
“You gotta get one for Christmas Eve,” he told me in 2024. “We both have to be in full regalia.” I took him at his word, scoured Amazon, found a perfect cream-and-lace one and added a red rhinestone tiara for good measure. The pictures and video from last year’s Christmas Eve service at Peace Covenant Presbyterian Church are, well, defiantly joyful.
Yes, THAT Steve Torrence. The guy about town you know as a Key West police officer and chaplain and the Monroe County State Attorney Office’s public information officer. The guy who arrived here in 1985 as the Metropolitan Community Church’s senior pastor. The guy who marries couples on the beach, knows the best versions of Broadway show tunes and can be found regularly in Goldman’s, where he knows all the locals and vice versa.
Steve retired from MCC in 2023, but Peace Covenant asked him (he might say “conscripted”) to fill our pulpit for most of 2024. Along the way he taught us that hope, peace, joy and love were action verbs. No small feat, considering Presbyterians, even the progressive ones, aren’t much known for effervescence, joyful or otherwise. We’re kinda serious and solemn and weirdly straitlaced. Steve was having none of that.
When he preached “Defiant Joy” on the third Sunday of Advent, he made the point clear: “Mary’s ‘Magnificat’ is more than a song; it is a call to action. It invites us to join God in the work of justice, compassion and reconciliation.
“Mary’s ‘Magnificat’ is not a sweet carol. It is a protest song, a revolutionary anthem. Imagine this: a young, unwed teenager living in a Roman-occupied land, boldly proclaiming a God who tears down the powerful and uplifts the oppressed: ‘He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.’
“These words are dangerous,” said Steve. “They speak of a God who sides with the marginalized and challenges systems of oppression. And Mary isn’t just dreaming about a better future; she’s claiming it is already happening. It’s no wonder this text has been banned throughout history. … Defiant joy is alive, but it requires courage.
“Mary’s song,” he continued, “reminds us that joy is not about ignoring pain or injustice. It is about confronting those realities with hope. Joy, in Mary’s context, is an act of defiance.”
Key West Joy | 5 ways the island can find its own joy
Is there such a thing as Key West Joy? I think so. I see it — feel it — when governing bodies, agencies, nonprofits, businesses and individuals align their projects and goals with these five values:
- Stay aware: Each of us should understand the Key West, Monroe County, Florida and national governmental decisions that shape our quality of life and the well-being of our community. Transparency is fundamental. Open, public debate is crucial. And none of that happens without both educating and empowering others.
- Protecting the environment: Better environmental care for our island, its waters and its wildlife while we seek appropriate growth and development will sustain our future. When we treat the fragile Keys ecosystem as if it can withstand the assault of too many people, too many paved parking lots and too much careless demand, we put our island chain at risk.
- Helping those who help: Supporting the efforts of local nonprofits, artists and entertainers, businesses and religious organizations to achieve their goals helps us all succeed and preserves the best of Key West. We must seek out and do right by those We must seek out and do right by those in need, whether those needs are for food and shelter, safety from abuse, persecution and deportation or simply an hour of companionship.
- Supporting those who work: We must get behind local business owners, the workforce and entrepreneurs and full-time residents to develop their potential to succeed, because our island’s financial future depends on their success. We must invest in housing, education, health services, immigration and child and elder care, ensuring those who work can do so without fear and uncertainty.
- And finally acting with “defiant joy.” That’s what Key West’s Steve Torrence calls it. Defiant joy. The willingness to speak truthfully to power, to celebrate humanity in the face of despair, to find the harmonies of resistance and embrace glimpses of joy — defiant joy — in the most troubled of days.
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