(Untitled)

[afterannabel]

So the power all across campus went out. I'm still online because of my laptop battery. Wish I had a flashlight. Going to the bathroom in the dark was no fun. Wondering if I should eat that chocolate peanut butter ice cream in the fridge because, y'know, it might go bad since we don't know when the power will come back on. I wish I had a cell phone

Comments

[apdraper2000]

Hi. I was looking at peachycream's journal and you asked the question I was wanting to ask - so what amazing book IS she reading?? - and liked your icon and was curious, so I visited. And found you like Dar Williams and I am listening to The Green World right this very minute, etc. etc. So hi.

I hope everything worked out with your boss. And your dentist.

[afterannabel]

haha-yes, everything worked out in the best way it possibly could've. The dentist was AWESOME. No, really! And my boss was very understanding about needing some time off.
I'm really happy that you joined a church-it's going well?

[apdraper2000]

yes, very well, thank you. I get sad sometimes that I'm part of an evangelical Xian community, at a time when evangelicals sometimes seem like a conservative scourge on the USA. But there's no such thing as a perfect home on this side of the grave - and in fact, it's my church that gives me resources for dealing with the shortcomings of Xians (including me).

[afterannabel]

Glad it's going well. That's really quite interesting, about your church-could you tell me more? About how the resources it provides? Do you have issues with evangelism inherently?

[apdraper2000]

Inherently? Yes, probably - but they're hard to sort out from all the issues I have with evangelicalism as its often practiced. But you were asking about evangelism, I assume you mean the act of bearing witness about one's faith to others. I find it hard to be an evangelist - I've really done it maybe a handful of times in my life. I don't think that's an inherent issue - I think it's that my cultural conditioning is particularly strong in that area.

As for resources, it took me a long time to realize that the best remedy for religion was God. And my interactions with my religion became less toxic when I began to conduct them with that purpose in mind - to allow God to draw me closer to Her. So my church offers me a number of mundane things: instruction, companionship, opportunities to serve, to sing, to pray, etc. As God reaches out to me through those things, they become resources for dealing with the fact that the church is a flawed institution inhabited by flawed people - "of whom I am the worst."