When I was a younger woman, I remember feeling like the way they described God from the pulpit didn’t seem like someone to follow or even someone who is actually loving. I also couldn’t imagine the only hope for humanity is that one day, we’d be with God, and we’d spend all our time praising and worshiping Him for eternity. I mean… That sounds outright crazy.
Sometimes when people accept God into their lives, they have this look, this “spiritual high” that feels disconcerting. Like, unrelatable. Now I think they were just so happy and relieved. I don’t think I’ve experienced this kind of jubilance. I’m a happy Christian, with a more even killed vibe.
Some people can become addicted to anything. But I need to mind my business.
B
I’ve known people to have an almost abusive relationship with faith. They cling to it to run away from something else. It almost seems that they can’t wait for judgment day, as a means to end their suffering. Rather than having actually found the relief that comes with a relationship with our savior.
I recently met with a client who has his daughters working on the client services side. I noticed that they were Muslim women who covered their hair. There was another woman in the office of a different race, and she was uncovered. When I excluded her as one of his daughters, he said… Oh, why did you leave her out? She could have been my daughter as well. I said, well your daughters all seem to cover, and he said that is right, but that the other woman was also Muslim, she just didn’t choose to cover.
In the protestant Christian faith, there are so many expressions of faith. Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, Pentecostal C.O.G.I.C, and non-denominational, just to name a few. In fact, there are 1000 million different denominations. All in all, these denominations exist because they feel that the way these different segments of the same faith, adopt and express what it means to be Christian speaks to them. I’m most comfortable with non-denominational churches, but I can appreciate many of the other segments.
What I think is interesting, though, is that if you ask leaders of any, of the other segments why their way and not any of the other ways, and they are likely to say because there is only one way that is right. I’m not of this thinking.
Yes, Jesus, is the truth, the light, and the way. I am fortunate to have found my faith, and how it works for me. I bet if you ask anyone else who is zealous about their faith, they would say the same. I am not here to examine the hearts of man, but to serve as Christ served. Furthermore, I don’t support foreign missions or conversion commissions.
I believe that the work of Christ begins with those who choose him and that it’s up to us to create a place that truly reflects his heart for others who choose him to walk into.
B
In my young journey through faith, I see so many people spending more time judging others and their faith walk or lack thereof. If you are the human God made you to be, you still have work to do. Faith isn’t one size fits all. It’s also not a race. It’s not a competition. This sort of energy creates discourse. It leaves little room to create a place of belonging.
So tell me, Sis, how did you find your way? Are you still on your faith journey? What is or isn’t working? Have you found that the faith community isn’t all that much of a community? What do you do to create an inviting place for people in various stages of their journey? Do you think that all there is only one way to be a Christian? What denomination is that and why? I’d love to hear from you.
