Conversation with Pastor Ryan - December 29th 2010

    One of the reasons that I do this blog is because of the friendships and connections that I create in my exploration and journey through the different ways of honoring a greater power or higher ideal. Today was no exception. This afternoon I had the pleasure of talking to Pastor Ryan from Our Savior Lutheran Church.

   The conversation began with us sharing our backgrounds of how we ended up where we are in our faiths. Pastor Ryan grew  up a Nazarene which was historically more puritanical in it's beliefs of not dancing and similar practices being seen as taboo. It rose out of the holiness movement of John Wesley. John Wesley is known through sanctification of every Christian and bearing witness to the Holy Spirit in people's lives. The Church of the Nazarene is a Methodist denomination which rose out of opposition to the clergy of the Church of England. The "Don't ask, don't tell" aspect and tabooness to dancing and things like it in the modern Nazerene church turned him away from the Nazarene faith and to Lutheranism.

   We talked about the conflicts that come up in miscommunication between people and how tied it is to culture as well as religion and the difficulty of getting past surface level in regards to solving conflict but keeping peace.

   We also talked about understanding and how our families are all over the political spectrum and how we differ from some of members of our family in religion and politics but that it has no affect on how much we love them. 

   We talked about confession in regards to faith when I brought up that I think breaking past the levels of small talk or similarities is taking responsibility for one's faith and one's faiths mistakes as well as one's own mistakes. We talked about Luther's bitterness and anti-antisemitism and the wrongness with that and how all religions and people have played the role of persecuted and persecutor. It was wonderful to talk about it and I hope more leaders will do so, healing can only happen by recognizing past and current mistakes, only then can healing happen with the forgiveness afterwords.I think confession is one of the most beautiful parts of faith but is needed in a larger context. In the Interfaith conversations that need to be had, or conversations between people who have conflict with one another...accountability is needed so that people can heal and become better individuals and cease to "Other"ing one another.

   I believe in the virtue that is that the core of every religion and that every religion calls their members to be accountable and to live with love and charity towards one another. I hope I can bring that out in my quest for bringing peace between faiths and people who are in conflict.

    Pastor Ryan talked about his faith and Christ being ever present in people's lives. It was from this presentness that the stories in the Bible have meaning beyond their mythic and in some cases historical basis. For me this is the virtue that is in all of us that we are capable of. Whether it's through belief and relationship with whatever form God is to a person, or simply noticing ones actions in every day life and choosing to live right action...this is what I believe in. I believe in living virtuously and that God can help develop that virtue. I also believe it is possible to develop virtue in oneself without belief in a God.

    I was grateful to have been able to talk to Pastor Ryan and develop the friendship and look forward to more talks and hanging out in the future.