When Mike and I decided to get back into church we decided to kind of “Church Shop”. Neither of us were either against or for finding a Catholic church the main idea we had was, let’s find a place that is close to home so we will be more likely to go regularly. We also felt, we are trying to get back in to the presence of God, he will be there no matter what [christian] denomination or bible translation is being preached.
The first place we tried was a small Luthern Church that we drove past often. When we walked in we had to fill out name tags, everyone else had cross-stitched name tags that they took off a wall every week and put on. Yikes! A little uncomfortable for someone just trying to quietly check a place out. We did not go back (maybe once but that was enough).
So we decided to continue our quest… (Mike picked this time) there was another church that we passed by often, it was a Methodist Church [Community United]. So we went there… we quietly snuck into the back row… really got inspired by Pastor Mary’s sermon, and came back the next week. Each week moving up a row or two and going home with hymns in our heads.
On a side note, if you are in that spot in life, and are looking to get close to God again, know that any church that you walk into wants you there, and wants you to come back. It’s important that you find a good fit, maybe some people in your age group that you can connect with, maybe a certain energy during the worship time, maybe a pastor shares his or her teachings in a relevant way to you. Sorry for the deviation, but a couple of people have asked me “how do I get started” so that’s what I have to share. Just be careful, be sure they are teaching from the Holy Bible, there are a variety of versions, “New World Translation” is not one of them, even though it says “Holy Bible” on the cover (don’t be fooled).
Anyways, we spent 2 years at CUMC. During that time I learned and heard things I never had before.
One of the things Pastor Mary said every week was “God is Good!” and the congregation would respond “All the time!” and then the reverse. Not that I didn’t know that God is good, I still can’t wrap my mind around how GREAT he is. But something I took away from my Catholic up bringing was to be a God-Fearer, I felt more guilt than Grace. Now I live in God’s Grace. When I mess up (all the time because I am human) I know that not only is God going to forgive me, but he’s actually going to grab my hand and pull me back up onto my feet again.
I have so much more to share about the time we spent at CUMC and the spiritual growth I [and we] experienced as “babies in faith” but this post is getting to be long enough. So we’ll save it for another day. Happy Friday everyone, and have a great weekend!
3 comments:
i love these posts. thanks for sharing.
i enjoyed chapter 2.
I think it is either psalms or proverbs that tells us Gods thoughts of us are more than there are grains of sand.......Hold a handful of sand and try to imagine just that many thoughts much less an enitre beaches worth of sand.....Keep up the faith!!!!!
Also be carful not to take God's love too lightly....Yes the Catholic religion speaks too much of fearing God but a little fear is OK. He is mighty and powerful and capable of many things. I fear disapointing my God. I know how sad it makes me when my own children are not loyal to eachother and it saddens me that I might make God feel the same way sometimes.
God IS good ALL the time!!!! (His mercy endures forever) That is one of my favorite songs at church. if you don'r have it remind me to send it to you. Although life brings us many storms God does have a plan and it is All Good.
H
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