Thursday, January 24, 2013

Go to Church

Act  #25:  Lose religion, find God.   

I go to a church where members are firm in their faith, but never too firm in their convictions.  Where relationships with God are so personal that each person calls him by a different name, or no name at all.

I go to a church where hierarchy and power cease to exist and one's connection to God stems not from fear or a desire to please, but from a deep awe and personal connectedness, a sense of gratitude, an intrinsic trust that there is a place and purpose for everyone in the greater universe.  

I go to a church where members converse with God daily in their own distinct ways - disciplined prayer five times a day, holy water, bedtime meditations, joining hands with loved ones for grace, watching the splendor of the sunrise.

I go to a church with members who look like me. And who look nothing like me. Where the marginalized and oppressed are not just welcomed, but are needed.  For we are all interconnected, and without one another we can never be whole.

I go to a church where love is celebrated and uplifted in all of its glorious forms.   A church where true love transcends sex, and gender, color, and class. For it is in the image of  love that we were all created.  And it is through love, that we all breathe and exist.

I go to a church where young minds are not molded from existing beliefs , but are encouraged to question, supported to seek. Until they find their own personal path to God. Until they come to call him by their own name.

I go to a church where every Sunday, members sit down to a meal and attempt to make sense of the world around them.  Where joy is found in gratuitously sharing your gifts with others, and being able to humbly receive the gifts of those around you.

I go to a church with muslims and buddhists, and christians, and seekers, and asians, and caucasians, and children, and the elderly, the sick, the recovered, the reformed, the divorced, the depressed.....the fulfilled. Where gay couples and people of all shades and faith journeys regularly join us.

I go to a church at my home. 

Because while I have visited many worthy establishments, I have yet to find a community of worship that embraces all of these things. 

I go to a church in my heart.  Every day.

And I can't help but wonder if the world might make a little more sense, if we all visited that church every once in a while.





3 comments:

  1. thanks for the very articulate perspective Mae! If you ever want to talk over coffee sometime about faith and these important issues please give me a call. Dan Oberg

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    1. Thanks Dan! Coffee and Faith sound like the perfect combination. I'll have my people call your people to set it up soon :-)

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