Once upon a time (as all adventures must begin) my close friend Rachel Treharne and I came up with one of our best adventure ideas yet. We decided to embark upon a grand church exploration. We wanted to see what was out there and decided to visit a new church each week, keeping our minds open and getting a feel for the vibe of each new gathering place.
Rachel and I originally became friends through Burke Community Church, back in jr. high. However, I have not attended for the last two and a half years. Let me make it clear I love Jesus as my Lord and Savior with all my heart and believe only through his grace am I saved. You see, it's his fan club I have issues with. For the past two years I've gone by the idea "Going to church doesn't make you a Christian anymore then standing in a garage makes you a car." Basically organized religion completely repulsed me.
What changed my mind then? The fact that closed minds are immensely more repulsive then organized religion, when it comes down to it. I never want to conclude "this is it" or "this is how things are." And mostly, I am just curious. I am interested in discovering and glimpsing the ways of the many different gatherings that go on each week. I love ideas in general. I'd like to get an inkling of the way differing people perceive life, eventually being able to note some of the differences and similarities everywhere. For me this is not a journey to find God or myself, it is simply to (as the bear who went over the mountain did) see what I can see. I am so excited Rachel shares my curiosity, and as she put it this morning "I love not knowing what to expect, it's the best." Agreed.
We have now been to three churches, I will catch you up then continue to post. I WILL stay on top of this. I hope you'll benefit somehow from reading these thoughts. Perhaps you will be encouraged to check out some churches of your own, ponder the significance and meaning of the church in general, or merely brush up on your grammar and spelling by noteing my many mistakes.
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I love this entire thing! In a way it makes me proud. I literally laughed out loud at one point.
ReplyDelete"Going to church doesn't make you a Christian anymore then standing in a garage makes you a car." That makes tons of sense! I'm going to steal that! =)
If you don't mind I'd like to give a few of my reasons for embarking on this adventure.
It's different. I've lived in Northern Virginia for about 5 years and have gone to BCC all the while. I've lived here longer than any other place. I'm secretly really proud of that. I've always been jealous of people who still live in the house they were born in. There's so much security in that! But for me, I realized that I've grown too comfortable at BCC. Comfortable for me means excepting life how it is, not trying to move forward. My church life has settled, and these adventures are shaking things up!
My second reason is similar to the first. I'm obsessed with me. I think that's all there is. I forget that not everybody lives the same way I do. Not everybody believes the same things I do. Not everybody worships the same way I do. This is a way for me to see outside of my world. And even if the organ and hymns don't move me, I can still appreciate that they move somebody else. That's something I love about christianity and really all religions. Even though we do different things we all have one thing in common- God. We can look beyond our differences and fellowship together. That's the way God meant it, and it's such a beautiful thing!
-Rachel
Hey Sally,
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a very interesting blog and I plan to follow your adventures and comment when I can.
I just want to ask you to clarify your statement of "I never want to conclude "this is it" or "this is how things are." If you've decided upon a religion, then haven't you come to your own conclusion? I'd love to see some miscellaneous thoughts and opinion posts as well as logs of church visits.
Good luck to both of you, and have fun.
Arthi
Sally and Rachel,
ReplyDeletethis sounds like a great adventure. If you are truly open to it, you must check out Capital Life Church, and if you're sick of religion, this is the place to check out. It's held in a theater in Arlington: www.capitallife.org.
Look forward to reading more...