find a church

So a few of my goals are to do with my spiritual development. My beliefs are best described as cultural Christianity meets feminist theology with a dash of mysticism – grossly simplifying, of course, but this is not the place to list what I believe and why!

I think I might be happy at a Unitarian church. I miss that sense of community and fellowship that I had at church when I was younger, not to mention the spiritual benefits of being in sacred space for a while every week.

Yes, I went to church yesterday with mother and baby… It was a wonderful experience. The guest preacher talked about the deserts and how they’re supposed to be crossed, not built upon. Tears ran down my face almost the whole time. I was touched by it in a way that I wasn’t expecting at all. It truly caught me by surprise.

I still don’t know if I’ll stay in this church permanently, because it is a 20-minute car ride from home, and that’s tough to do alone with a baby… I will go again next Sunday, this time alone with baby… Let’s see how that turns out.

I am so happy!

A couple of months ago I took the Yellow Pages and searched under “Churches”, and found a Methodist Church in a town near my home, about a 20-minute ride. I wanted to go with my husband, but after the birth of the baby I’ve been putting it off. The baby is two months old now, so it shouldn’t be a problem for me to go and find out about this church.

I talked to my mother a few minutes ago and asked her if she would go with me this next Sunday. Surprisingly, she said Yes…

Frank Viola has a new book out about the organic church, I’m going to get it. Also, I’m watching for a conference that we can go to… I get their email- so, hopefully we will get info about one that is feasible.

Instead of blindly beleiving in the bible and trying to rationalize what rediculous bits there are in it, perhaps we should instead be asking ourselves, perhaps this book is wrong. Perhaps man got it wrong. Perhaps man thought they understood god but didn’t. Perhaps we are all wrong.

Read Exodus ch 20-21

God did say a slave could eventually choose to leave. But why would a slave choose to leave, if his wife and kids still belonged to the slave master. Why would God put any bits in about slavery? Perhaps god didn’t write the bible and man did. We have found out the tough way that slavery is very wrong. And I just have a very hard time beleiving “god” would EVER get behind slavery.

I have been going to different churches and started reading the bible, and I am having problems. Some of the bible just does not make sense to me. Maybe the christian religion isn’t the way to go. In the bible God says slavery is ok. I mean I just don’t know if I can get on board with that, or choose to block it out. It has to be an educated decision, not a blind act of passion… Any advice?

I used to go to a Pentecostal church when I was between the ages of 8 and 13. After that I “rebelled” and stopped going, because I started QUESTIONING a lot of the prohibitions and practices, and QUESTIONING anything is definitely not encouraged in Pentecostal churches.

After more than 20 years “in exile”, as Marcus J. Borg puts it, I have decided to return to church, but definitely it has to be another denomination. I’ve been thinking about going to a Methodist church, because at least I’ll have more freedom of thought within it, and the emphasis won’t be in “believing” a particular doctrine or dogma, but on transforming my life through a personal relationship with God.

Hubby and I will drive around this Sunday to scope out a few churches that we have in mind…It seems silly, but I am so nervous about attending a church where I do not know anyone. I hate having this fear that is interferring with my faith!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In my mind, I believe that people at church would actually care what I look like or am wearing. This will be a huge accomplishment for me once I get the guts to do it!!

A friend of mine has a degree in Youth Ministries so I was really interested in what church she goes to. I had the opportunity to ask her tonight and I’m going to go on Sunday. I’m excited about it because I think it might be a good fit.