@BrianD “Some of what I saw at this church concerned me greatly, but I was willing to stay because of the people.”

That’s where I am at the moment. I don’t have many friends outside church and if I left I would be hard-pressed for community. The good thing is that our church isn’t fundamentalist in the strict sense and tolerates diversity, and I…[Read more]

Go to the markets, the beach, the coffee shop, take a walk, do yoga, kayak, enjoy a drive out to a nearby winery, taste something new, listen to something inspiring, paint, draw, garden, enjoy the sun, enjoy a warm fire, go fishing, journal, cook up a storm, meet up with friends for brunch… My goodness, I can think of a lot of things I would…[Read more]

YES! Wasted time, lost chances, regrets. That is the most recurring theme in my life. What if?

But without those years I wouldn’t be where I am now, which is, fortunately, in a loving relationship, having a small handful of close friends, and having a consciousness and awareness I couldn’t have had before given the state of blindness I was experiencing.

1.5 hours listening to music I don’t like and someone talk about things I don’t believe–that’s it in a nutshell, though my church’s most recent pastor and I are about halfway on the same page (but he can’t say anything about it because his salary depends on saying stuff that is “theologically orthodox.”)

I am so over the formula-driven modern…[Read more]

Certainly understand how you feel, except in reverse: my wife started looking into spirituality without baggage (i.e. going to church, Evangelical beliefs) a number of years ago and her interest in my total, sold-out involvement in church was lukewarm (to be generous). While she came with me to church and didn’t mind our kids being involved in all…[Read more]

It’s too easy for me to get stuck in the pigeonhole mentality that attempts to label people by their beliefs and see them in some ‘other’ area than myself. I really appreciate your picture of this multi-shaded space in which people live and move, kind of fluid-like. I see the potential people have to change and move around on this space both from…[Read more]

To me the bad memories bring more a sense of shame than anything else. I remember more how the situation made me feel rather than what actually happened. And that usually results in an audible groan, a self-inflicted derogatory remark, or a general feeling of regret.

The worst memories are those of when I, in my zeal and ignorance, inflicted pain…[Read more]

Hey Susan.
Thanks for sharing your story. I like your ‘Zen Christian’ label. In my church experience, I shared on Facebook once that I felt like I was a Zen Christian and I got all sorts of abuse over it (the karma was that my biggest abuser got really nasty and, because of that, the pastor had to reluctantly pull her out of a leadership election…[Read more]