My Spiritual Journey - 1

As long as I can remember, I was searching.  At first, I was searching with my dad as we visited church after church. I went to school, and I began to "believe" in science.  It was not enough.  In college, I studied different religions, but I still came up blank.  But finally, I found a place where I was accepted as I was.  I found people who weren't insulted by or afraid of my questions.  I found a God who was big enough not to make me check my intellect at the door, a place where I could be me.

... I was lost, but now I'm found.
   Was blind, but now I see...
    (Amazing Grace)

This is the first in a four part series that follows my journey from agnostic to Christian.

This story is inspired by a time I stepped out of my online comfort zone to talk about something potentially controversial, the dynamic of different religious groups that can happen in a town or city. Several of the comments expressed an interest on how I decided to become a Christian in the first place. I thought that would be a great continuation on my religious theme.

In a way, this is kind of my life story because this journey has been going on throughout my life from about as long as I can remember. Hopefully, I can keep the story from dragging too much. ;)

Like any good story, I have to set the scene. Act 1 Scene 1 starts by being raised in a non-religious household. Oh, I had a Christening dress that I still have on a shelf in my closet, and I have Godparents, who had nothing to do with giving me religious instruction. There's some paperwork that the ceremony took place at an Episcopal church. I knew that my parents also were married in an Episcopal church, but that was about the extent of it.

If there was any kind of religion around the house, it was the religion of the U.S. Army. Like any religion, it is filled with disciplines, traditions, and a moral code. However, it was not a household of blind obedience.

My parents had grown up in the shadow of World War II where Nazi military personnel tried to deflect the responsibility of their atrocities by saying that they were only doing what they had been ordered to do. This was also very shortly after the end of the war in Vietnam where the citizens of the United States learned that their government had lied to them in order to generate support for the war. The level of trust in anything besides what one could observe or reason through was very thin.

My father would regularly tell me stories that sounded true ... at first.  As the story continued, it would get more and more far-fetched and outlandish. A particular one that stands out was about submarine races on Lake Superior. (I probably remember it because it was my cousin who got sucked into the story and was pretty bummed when he found out that we couldn't go and see the race. lol)

The way that I figured, this was my father's way of teaching me that I shouldn't blindly follow or believe anyone, not even him.  I should always use my brain and my own reasoning power before believing anything.  Naturally, this attitude backfired on him when I became a teenager and questioned everything he said. For some reason the stories stopped shortly after that. I'm not quite sure why. ;)

Now, it wasn't that my parents were particularly anti-religion either. When I was six, and my neighbors invited me to go to church, my parents had no objections that I recall. However, about a year later, when I wanted to ride my bike rather than go to church, they had no objections either. Of course, at no time in that year did they ever go with me.

In other words, I was briefly exposed to Christianity, but we lived in an irreligious household. There was no significant change from this as long as I lived with my parents, even after they divorced. We celebrated Christmas with Santa and Easter with bunnies.

However, as all parents (and children) know, children don't learn everything about life at home. School began to have an influence. And that's where the story will pick up next week.

Here's a hint. My father's teaching to question things was encouraged. You already know how the story ends, but I can assure you that I approached the whole thing with a great deal of skepticism.

What is your story?

Until next time ...

(This is an updated version of a post, which appeared on my personal blog on February 9, 2012.)

What Is the Big Deal about Jesus?

Lots of religions have a god.  Some have several gods or even many.  In the United States, most people say they believe in God (88%).*  What's the big deal about Jesus?

I remember when I was young(er) thinking that Jesus was a pretty nice guy.  He helped the sick (Mt 9:20-31). He fed them (Mt 14:15-21).  He took care of his friends (Luke 8:22-25).  He talked about loving God others (Mt 22:35-40).  But, Jesus as God?  Really?  How does that even work?!

When we look at the Bible, especially the New Testament, we see two things.  Jesus recognized as the Messiah & The Son of God (or Man).  The Messiah, or Savior, was the person that the Jewish people thought God would send to save them from oppression.

At the time, the Romans were in charge.  The Jews were expecting that the Messiah would no only save them from the Romans be all other oppressors in the future.

Jesus is also referred to as "The Son of God" and "The Son of Man."  Both of these titles could be used to describe the Messiah.  It also indicated someone with a special connection with God.

Christ the Pantocrator at Mt Sinai

Ultimately, the people, who were with Jesus and watched him do these amazing, miraculous, things, came to think that he was more than a mere man.  When he was executed by the Romans, his friend, his followers, his disciples thought it was the end.  They left mourning their friend and disappointed that they had put their faith in the wrong person.  Then, Jesus came back.

This is no zombie movie.  Nor, was Jesus someone who was revived by some kind of ancient CPR.  Jesus defeated death.  Friends and family saw him as well as 500 other people (1 Cor 15:3-6).  He came to let them know that they had not failed.  It was not the end.  It was the beginning, and it is still going on over 2000 years later.

Jesus told his followers they needed to teach other people the lessons he taught them.  These were lessons about loving God, loving each other, and taking care of each other.  They are really the opposite of what the world tells us we need to do to succeed.

The world tells us things like it is good to get money at any cost, to have as many things as possible, to have sex with as many people as possible whether we love them or not.  The funny thing is that even if we have all of that, we still feel empty inside.  Life has no meaning beyond maintaining what we have.

By following the way of Jesus, being his student or disciple, we have a life that is full of love and full of meaning.  We can feel like we are making the world a better place.  We are helping to make the world the way it was meant to be where we love one another and take care of each other.

Part of the reason that Jesus is considered the Son of God is that Jesus acted and taught the way God would if God were human.  Eventually, leaders in the Christian church concluded that it was because Jesus was God.  And, that's what the big deal about Jesus is.


* Religions.PewForum.org

Are Christians Kind?

This is one area where I think that the Christian Church messes up so often.  If others are supposed to know Christians by their love, what are they supposed to think when we're insulting each other (and worse)?

Who is the person in your life you should be kinder to?  Even those people we disagree with?  (No names, please.)

Have You Met Chuck? He Knows Church

Have you been new in a church?  Maybe it was the first time you'd been in a church.  You wanted to see what all the fuss was about.  The thing that was most confusing to me was all the special terms that were used.  That's where Chuck comes in.  He knows church, and he's here to help us out.

I love Chuck because he explains things with humor.  He does it in a way that's simple without being simplistic if you know what I mean.

And, I'll clue you in on something.  Those long weird words that you might hear in church?  You may not be the only one who's confused.  There may be a bunch of long time church goers around you pretending to know what they mean.

If you see any of them blow their cover, let them know about Chuck.

How about you.  Have you heard a term or reference in church that you've wondered about?  Share them in the comments below.  Narthex was always a strange one for me.  Soon, Chuck will tell us all about it right here.