(no subject)
True story:
Back in the days when I was an atheist curious about faiths, I attended a handful of different religious services as part of a project for school*. In addition to Muslim, Catholic, Hindu, Episcopal, and Jewish services, I went to my first Friends Meeting (Quaker church). For those unfamiliar, most Friends Meetings are unpgrogrammed; in other words, there is no preacher leading the meetings. Friends sit down together to reflect for one hour. When the Lord moves a Friend to speak, he or she stands up and shares His message. Everyone takes a moment to reflect, and then may respond to it or wait for the next speaker.
This meeting was held around April 2006, when the Gospel of Judas was making headlines (because of a new translation? I can't exactly remember). One Friend mentioned that he was very interested in the text because of a passage which mentions Jesus laughing. He added it always bothered him that the new Testament never made any reference to His sense of humor. I found it surprising how accepting others were toward this criticism of the scripture. No one argued his point.
Later, another Friend shared how she had been studying Exodus, as Passover was approaching. She told us that she was becoming increasingly "annoyed" (I specifically remember that word) at the idea of God's use of plagues in Egypt. She disagreed with His actions because they were unnecessarily aggressive. (Friends are almost entirely pacifists) When I heard this, I developed a feeling of dread in my stomach. "That's pretty straightforward blasphemy, isn't it?" I thought to myself. "That's going to anger a lot of people here".
Nope. One Friend responded by saying that only He can truly understand the reason for such force, and that was it. The response was polite and completely without condescension. After the meeting, there was a potluck dinner, and everybody treated the aforementioned Friends like family. They treated me and my partner the same way. These people truly walked the walk, and when I found Jesus shortly after, I knew exactly who I wanted to worship with.
Lately, I've been skipping meetings because I can't get myself out of the house, on the train, and over to Beacon Hill. I've been wracked with guilt about it, since I've been asking God for guidance and strength all the while. He's provided regardless of my sloth (oh boy! a sin!) and I feel like I owe him more. I can't force myself to go just because I feel like I owe it to Him, but I still feel that way. I'm writing this to remind myself why I started going in the first place. Pick it up, Michael. Pick it up.
*The projects were student designed, btw. No one forced me to study religion. I just want to clarify that for the First-Amendment enthusiasts in the audience.
tl;dr: LOL, God.
Back in the days when I was an atheist curious about faiths, I attended a handful of different religious services as part of a project for school*. In addition to Muslim, Catholic, Hindu, Episcopal, and Jewish services, I went to my first Friends Meeting (Quaker church). For those unfamiliar, most Friends Meetings are unpgrogrammed; in other words, there is no preacher leading the meetings. Friends sit down together to reflect for one hour. When the Lord moves a Friend to speak, he or she stands up and shares His message. Everyone takes a moment to reflect, and then may respond to it or wait for the next speaker.
This meeting was held around April 2006, when the Gospel of Judas was making headlines (because of a new translation? I can't exactly remember). One Friend mentioned that he was very interested in the text because of a passage which mentions Jesus laughing. He added it always bothered him that the new Testament never made any reference to His sense of humor. I found it surprising how accepting others were toward this criticism of the scripture. No one argued his point.
Later, another Friend shared how she had been studying Exodus, as Passover was approaching. She told us that she was becoming increasingly "annoyed" (I specifically remember that word) at the idea of God's use of plagues in Egypt. She disagreed with His actions because they were unnecessarily aggressive. (Friends are almost entirely pacifists) When I heard this, I developed a feeling of dread in my stomach. "That's pretty straightforward blasphemy, isn't it?" I thought to myself. "That's going to anger a lot of people here".
Nope. One Friend responded by saying that only He can truly understand the reason for such force, and that was it. The response was polite and completely without condescension. After the meeting, there was a potluck dinner, and everybody treated the aforementioned Friends like family. They treated me and my partner the same way. These people truly walked the walk, and when I found Jesus shortly after, I knew exactly who I wanted to worship with.
Lately, I've been skipping meetings because I can't get myself out of the house, on the train, and over to Beacon Hill. I've been wracked with guilt about it, since I've been asking God for guidance and strength all the while. He's provided regardless of my sloth (oh boy! a sin!) and I feel like I owe him more. I can't force myself to go just because I feel like I owe it to Him, but I still feel that way. I'm writing this to remind myself why I started going in the first place. Pick it up, Michael. Pick it up.
*The projects were student designed, btw. No one forced me to study religion. I just want to clarify that for the First-Amendment enthusiasts in the audience.
tl;dr: LOL, God.