Gloria Dei Lutheran Church - Olympia, WA - Febuary 20th 2011

     Since the creation of this blog this has been my second visit to a Lutheran Church. My how I've changed in that time. I've found myself going between Agnostic Theist, to all out Theist, and even considering Christianity. Before I go into where I am now though, I should tell about the Church since Gloria Dei actually made me all the more conflicted on what being a Christian means and if I could do it.

        Gloria Dei is a beautiful Church. The sanctuary stretches up like a dome is made with wood pillars around the cross that is on the altar in the center. Which I've found to be a common Lutheranism. Protestantism in general is more concerned with "Christ is Risen" and the empty tomb, versus the Orthodox and Catholics whose focus lies on artistic interpretation of Jesus on the cross.

      The community is involved with Interfaith and is active helping the homeless, Alcoholics and Narcotics anonymous, education in Africa and peace between religions. The music is also powerful too, with a pipe organ and the sound of old church hymns to the sound of bells.  

    The sermon proper was about Jesus's Sermon on the Mount and "Loving your enemies and praying for those who persecute you." During the sermon he used this line to make sense of the barbaric laws in Leviticus in that the spirit of what God intended for his people was harmony and love between individuals. The laws should have never been necessary but it was people trying their best to understand what loving each other meant in their very limited way...in a way that in practice harmed many people (being stoned to death, sold into slavery, ect).

   The spirit of the law interpretation makes sense to me. Much like the United States Constitution, it's when the spirit of the Constitution is followed that Gay, Women and all the rights of those who weren't Anglo-Saxon land owners were advanced. It was the spirit of the law that changed African Americans being seen as 3/5 of a person to full people deserving of rights they and all people deserve.

    So can I believe in the Spirit of the Bible? The Spirit of Jesus? Rather then His words and actions that contradict love, justice and mercy(and his own message on these things)? I don't know. But I'm much more open to it and find it to be truer then the contradicting messages in the words and actions in the Bible.  In the end, I guess I'm where I started. I am a seeker of truth wherever it may lead. Much more open to Christianity, and certainly a believer in the Spirit the faith is built on. For now, the most I can do is remain open to God and the Universe and see what happens in my journey.