I have some time on my hands these days. Let me rephrase that, I have a lot of time on my hands these days; though, if I’m honest, I really should be doing other things like cleaning house and cooking dinner. I’ve been blogging here since 2007, but it’s been inconsistent and now that I’m feeling like writing again I need an outlet for it. But I’d like to think that my writing has some substance, so I’m employing different devices: writing prompts, hot topics (for me, at least!), and looking at other blogs.
Imagine me, at my little netbook, sitting in my chair with my feet up. I’m a religious woman, after all, I am ordained. But these days I’m a flockless-shepherd and I’m thinking more about what I’ll do for my next vocation. Anyway, back to being religious. You may already have picked up on the “I am ordained” line and figured out the likelihood is that I am not from one of the more conservation traditions. Indeed, I am a Mainline Protestant believer. Oh but as I write I realize those words have a different meaning for each person who reads them!
Well, we can say I am a Christian. Yes, I am a disciple of Christ. I worship God, but not so much Jesus. I’m a bit shaky on trinitarian doctrine. Sometimes I’m more ‘high-church’ other times my Christology is very low. I mainly believe that Jesus came to turn us back to God, to point us to God, to direct us in God’s ways. I don’t believe Jesus came to get us to worship himself. Now if I try hard enough, I can run in an entirely different direction with this and say that Jesus came to give us a face for God, but that said, we are all created in God’s image. But Jesus’ unique face was crucified, as it says, for the forgiveness of sin. So I can come close to trinitarian theology, but I usually end up stopping somewhere in the neighborhood but not quite at the defined address.
But, there I go, rabbit-trailing again! When we read someone who identifies as ‘Christian’ we each have an idea as to what that means, which is precisely why I mention that I am of the Mainline Protestant variety. (Yes, I know. I’m labeling and that’s not always helpful, though it does help us understand better. At least we assume that we understand something better when we can label it with a word we think we understand.) I’ll even go so far as to say I am moderate to liberal leaning in my faith. Social gospel? Yes. Prosperity gospel? Not so much. Open table? Absolutely- to any and all, even if you don’t profess to be Christian. Baptism? I was immersed at 10 years old, but I also love what infant baptism says, and I cried my eyes out when an elderly couple came to be baptised in their 80s (btw, they were immersed). Saved by grace? No other way. Hellfire and damnation? My God is Love.
I’ll admit what I believe is right for me, and you are entitled to your beliefs too. It would be so much easier if we all believed the same way, but that’s not reality and God has created each of us to think for ourselves. Along with that thinking comes the ability to re-evaluate our own beliefs and thoughts through study, debate, discussion, experience (some might say scripture, reason, and experience).
My humanness, my desire to find like-minded individuals, sometimes makes me stumble when I read blogs, books or articles written by others who also go by the moniker ‘Christian’. I catch myself trying to read between the lines and identify what subgroup of Christians each other ascribes to, and then I’m ashamed of myself. Ashamed because then I start to judge their beliefs and concentrate more on how we are different rather than celebrate the things we hold in common. Yes, this is the challenge of ecumenism: seeing the value in another’s faith without downgrading the things we disagree on or hold differently. Sometimes I think it is easier to work interfaith because we come in with the upfront understanding that our beliefs are very different and we don’t purport to believe we already know everything, so we (I) set in to learning what we hold in common and celebrating the fact that we are more alike than we are different. It is easier for me to read a magazine of Eastern thought than it is to read a conservative Christian article. And yet, I can also say that I have felt the spirit move so strongly when I have attended events that carried a more charismatic or evangelical flavor.
I’m reaching out as I read across the internet. I’m trying to arrest judgement and take things at face value, maybe I should say at heart value- for the quality that brings us all together in the same household of God, the Oikos. Many of our struggles are the same, especially in the day to day realm. So bring on those ladies and gentlemen of the broader Christian and human realm! Read for content, read for love!
