Church

I found a church that I'm going to attend Good Friday and Easter Sunday services at. It is a bit far, but it looks like it will be perfect for sunrise service on Easter. If I like it, and the bus schedule works out in my favor, I'll probably start attending regularly.

In some ways it seems like I've reached a point where my spirituality is compatible with religion. On the one hand, I've been comfortable with the thought of attending church regularly for years now, and have made attempts in the past. However, I suspect those attempts were more motivated by social needs than spiritual ones. Church, especially a church with traditional ELCA services, is what I'm used to. I heard these hymns every Sunday for most of my childhood, so they are familiar and comfortable -- comforting, almost. Easter, on the other hand, I consider the most important religious holiday of the year. For me, it is time when my spiritual feelings are most compatible with my religious upbringing. For that, I am most grateful. Perhaps it is a sign I am now ready to attend church on a spiritual basis, as well as on a social one.

Church

I found a church that I'm going to attend Good Friday and Easter Sunday services at. It is a bit far, but it looks like it will be perfect for sunrise service on Easter. If I like it, and the bus schedule works out in my favor, I'll probably start attending regularly.

In some ways it seems like I've reached a point where my spirituality is compatible with religion. On the one hand, I've been comfortable with the thought of attending church regularly for years now, and have made attempts in the past. However, I suspect those attempts were more motivated by social needs than spiritual ones. Church, especially a church with traditional ELCA services, is what I'm used to. I heard these hymns every Sunday for most of my childhood, so they are familiar and comfortable -- comforting, almost. Easter, on the other hand, I consider the most important religious holiday of the year. For me, it is time when my spiritual feelings are most compatible with my religious upbringing. For that, I am most grateful. Perhaps it is a sign I am now ready to attend church on a spiritual basis, as well as on a social one.

Church, part 2

The church was just amazing. Service was good, but that wasn't it. People were exceptionally friendly (even for Lutherans), but that wasn't it. It was the environment, the location, that made it amazing for me. The church is located on the coast: to one side are the moutnains; to the other, the ocean. When you go in and sit down, you are facing a giant glass window wall, through which you can see the ocean. There were smaller, ventilation windows; they were open and the cool evening air flowed in from off the ocean. The breeze flowed through the palm trees leaning over the church, rustling them loudly (but gently). In a sense...the physical prescence of God was overwhelming.

I remember the first time I saw the full moon shining down upon the ocean; for me, at that moment, that was God. I can only imagine what sunrise service is going to be like.

Church, part 2

The church was just amazing. Service was good, but that wasn't it. People were exceptionally friendly (even for Lutherans), but that wasn't it. It was the environment, the location, that made it amazing for me. The church is located on the coast: to one side are the moutnains; to the other, the ocean. When you go in and sit down, you are facing a giant glass window wall, through which you can see the ocean. There were smaller, ventilation windows; they were open and the cool evening air flowed in from off the ocean. The breeze flowed through the palm trees leaning over the church, rustling them loudly (but gently). In a sense...the physical prescence of God was overwhelming.

I remember the first time I saw the full moon shining down upon the ocean; for me, at that moment, that was God. I can only imagine what sunrise service is going to be like.