The Journey of My Spirit in a Nutshell

The following is actually a reply I posted on a journal entry in "Life in the Shoe"--the blog written by a Mennonite pastor's wife/author/columnist who lives outside of Harrisburg (a very small town in the Willamette Valley north of Eugene.)  Odd, isn't it, that many of  my internet acquaintances are somehow deeply entrenched in Christianity, when I am...not.  Been there done that.  But I begrudge no one her adherence to that faith; if that is the path she has chosen to communication with the Creator, I'm fine with that (as if they need my approval!  LOL!) 

Dorcas had posted an entry about "Spiritual Winds" within the Mennonite/Amish faith.  Funny...I never thought that such a venerable conservative sect would have that kind of ripples running through it.  It reminded me very much of the stuff we encountered when we were "born again" charismatic Christians.  Seems as if charlatans can and do spring up everywhere there might be a receptive audience.  Dorcas' view was that she was at times mystified that she didn't rush to line up behind folks who blew through congregations, "on fire for Jesus" and bringing ideas for changes that she just couldn't get on board with.  She wondered if she might be missing something the Lord was calling her to by being TOO discerning. 

And now, this...from one of your "non-churched" followers:

I was born and raised Catholic...attended Catholic grade school, with the nuns and all that. But there's just...something...about the faith one is raised in that becomes stale and rote after awhile. And in the Catholic Church, there's so much dogma and "theology" in the mix, that I eventually felt it got in the way of my relationship with God, rather than enhancing it.

In the eighties, my husband and I got involved in a charismatic church--yeah, with all the prophesying and hand raising and praise-the-Lording and speaking in tongues. Stayed in that sort of church for almost a decade, but eventually, the whole culture began to seem exploitative and emotionally manipulative. And politically far right-wing. No place for an aging hippie. It seemed to me that there must be more (and less) to the Creator-of-all-things than that.

It appears to me that most organized religions want to depict the Almighty as either the big piggy bank in the sky, or as a wrathful, vengeful Spirit that rains plagues and curses upon those who displease It. Or both. My soul does not bear witness to either of those concepts. As a result, I am no longer Catholic, or charismatic, or even Christian. I commune with the Creator through nature. I'll spare you the details...as I feel one's spiritual connection is a unique and private relationship.

I have no beefs with followers of Jesus. If that is the form of spiritual connection to the Almighty that my friends are comfortable with, I'm not going to tell them they are wrong or misguided. Our God is so amazing that there are probably as many ways to connect to God as there are souls on Earth. Everyone must connect in a way that works for them. It's when people start telling you that THEIR way is the best way or the only way or the most blessed way that you have to wrap yourself in your cloak of discernment.  

Of which you seem to be doing a pretty fair job.

Thank you for this post. It was enlightening to see that some of the things that made me uncomfortable about church are universal...moreso than I had thought.