Nice "You don’t rock the table while playing the Jenga; that much is clear to all players." "Insomnia fueled" - Love your humor mixed in with pointing out the absolute dryness of most of Christian religion. Christ was so not boring. It's amazing the church has managed to either completely invert his message or make it so boring no one can find it in church. I once tried to reform a church as my nesting instinct with one of my children. I came out in an ice storm with the baby to actually get their ears since they were interested in the baby and gave a talk about being more living. Lol! I am a seminary dropout. First female co-chaplain of my class. I had a lot of doubt for a long time. Now I'm far more comfortable in my direct knowing and my theology would be considered absolutely heretical religiously in churches that are closer to fundamentalist/evangelicalsm and my politics (or lack thereof, given current options) but my unwilling to to get in step with "the narrative" would make me equally a heretical in liberal churches. I haven't been led to go in years but the last one was a Quaker Church. I loved the idea of not talking unless you're led to and trusting your direct connection wit the Holy Spirit and how passionate they were for social justice, though I wonder how much of that has been co-opted by recent events. Doubt. There it is again. I told you I was more or less over it. I'm not. Lol. Do you like the mystics? I remember reading Julian of Norwhich and loving her! Right now I'm reading a series called The Horses Know and loving it...spiritual, not religious. Enlightenment through horses, essentially ;)
Wow! Thank you for this comment. I went off the grid for a three-day weekend in the mountains, hence the silence. It does the soul so much good to just take a leave from your life every now and then, doesn't it? I totally believe walking is a spiritual discipline. I try to practice it as much as I can though it's not easy living in the city :/
You actually got me laughing with the Quaker church, I thought about it myself a while ago and a friend of mine, who's also wandering off the church's beaten track, talked about it recently as well. There's something compelling in this idea of just joining together in the silence, isn't there? I'm an HSP so the whole Sunday service experience is just plain draining. Hate to sound like the guy from the commercial but "there must be a better way". I'm definitely going to think out loud on this topic here in this space, too.
There was a time when I read more mystics. But to be honest, good fiction has taught me much more than any philosopher or theologian. There's almost something incarnation-like in reading stories of other people's lives, isn't there? You can argue/research till you're blue in the face, but a walk in somebody else's shoes will still tell you so much more than any influencer or study. And good fiction does that, it offers you this window into the Other's life, the Other's experience. I'm really loving that.
Thank you so much for sharing your story <3 I'm a bit of a loner too in this in-between space of being neither fundamentalist nor liberal. Always glad to hear there are other people camping out in the gray zone, haha! Have a great week!
Oooooh! YES! Hoping you had a wonderful off grid retreat! I miss traveling but I am so sensitive that I stay close to home these days since the energy is so...um. well. You know how it is I've been nurturing my own space to be more of a sanctuary. The joke with me is I either stay within a mile of home or I cross an ocean. I love what you said about incarnational fiction. I find it incredibly hard to find fiction I love but when I do I love it hard.
My oldest child used to come with me to that Quaker church and intead of going to Sunday school, she'd sit on my lap and let me stroke her hair. This is my child who was the most "kid like" and pretty much always was into playing and social when she was little, although she is more more private and well-developed in her introvert side as YA. I cherish those times with her! She will be here in a short time to visit! YAY! And yes I totally get what you mean about church being draining. I haven't attempted to go in many years and feel no inclination to do so, although occasionally I wish I did. I find institutional religion to be mostly a corpse. The shorthand for the theology I landed upon is "Jesus died for your karma." I think my ideal situation would an outdoor meditation/dance party with a potluck from people's gardens in a field with flowers and people playing their instruments for a little while and then some nice silence to watch the fireflies and do a cartwheel before heading to bed.
Nice "You don’t rock the table while playing the Jenga; that much is clear to all players." "Insomnia fueled" - Love your humor mixed in with pointing out the absolute dryness of most of Christian religion. Christ was so not boring. It's amazing the church has managed to either completely invert his message or make it so boring no one can find it in church. I once tried to reform a church as my nesting instinct with one of my children. I came out in an ice storm with the baby to actually get their ears since they were interested in the baby and gave a talk about being more living. Lol! I am a seminary dropout. First female co-chaplain of my class. I had a lot of doubt for a long time. Now I'm far more comfortable in my direct knowing and my theology would be considered absolutely heretical religiously in churches that are closer to fundamentalist/evangelicalsm and my politics (or lack thereof, given current options) but my unwilling to to get in step with "the narrative" would make me equally a heretical in liberal churches. I haven't been led to go in years but the last one was a Quaker Church. I loved the idea of not talking unless you're led to and trusting your direct connection wit the Holy Spirit and how passionate they were for social justice, though I wonder how much of that has been co-opted by recent events. Doubt. There it is again. I told you I was more or less over it. I'm not. Lol. Do you like the mystics? I remember reading Julian of Norwhich and loving her! Right now I'm reading a series called The Horses Know and loving it...spiritual, not religious. Enlightenment through horses, essentially ;)
Wow! Thank you for this comment. I went off the grid for a three-day weekend in the mountains, hence the silence. It does the soul so much good to just take a leave from your life every now and then, doesn't it? I totally believe walking is a spiritual discipline. I try to practice it as much as I can though it's not easy living in the city :/
You actually got me laughing with the Quaker church, I thought about it myself a while ago and a friend of mine, who's also wandering off the church's beaten track, talked about it recently as well. There's something compelling in this idea of just joining together in the silence, isn't there? I'm an HSP so the whole Sunday service experience is just plain draining. Hate to sound like the guy from the commercial but "there must be a better way". I'm definitely going to think out loud on this topic here in this space, too.
There was a time when I read more mystics. But to be honest, good fiction has taught me much more than any philosopher or theologian. There's almost something incarnation-like in reading stories of other people's lives, isn't there? You can argue/research till you're blue in the face, but a walk in somebody else's shoes will still tell you so much more than any influencer or study. And good fiction does that, it offers you this window into the Other's life, the Other's experience. I'm really loving that.
Thank you so much for sharing your story <3 I'm a bit of a loner too in this in-between space of being neither fundamentalist nor liberal. Always glad to hear there are other people camping out in the gray zone, haha! Have a great week!
Oooooh! YES! Hoping you had a wonderful off grid retreat! I miss traveling but I am so sensitive that I stay close to home these days since the energy is so...um. well. You know how it is I've been nurturing my own space to be more of a sanctuary. The joke with me is I either stay within a mile of home or I cross an ocean. I love what you said about incarnational fiction. I find it incredibly hard to find fiction I love but when I do I love it hard.
My oldest child used to come with me to that Quaker church and intead of going to Sunday school, she'd sit on my lap and let me stroke her hair. This is my child who was the most "kid like" and pretty much always was into playing and social when she was little, although she is more more private and well-developed in her introvert side as YA. I cherish those times with her! She will be here in a short time to visit! YAY! And yes I totally get what you mean about church being draining. I haven't attempted to go in many years and feel no inclination to do so, although occasionally I wish I did. I find institutional religion to be mostly a corpse. The shorthand for the theology I landed upon is "Jesus died for your karma." I think my ideal situation would an outdoor meditation/dance party with a potluck from people's gardens in a field with flowers and people playing their instruments for a little while and then some nice silence to watch the fireflies and do a cartwheel before heading to bed.