Eastridge Church - Issaquah, WA - March 26th 2011

       What is worship? Is this blog a ministry (is it helping anyone or is it a journal only)?

      The reason I bring these points up is because of my experience today. First worship, I realize now why I'm so drawn to the dirges and the silence...it's in the those places where the words of the music have their strongest meaning and bring the greatest reflection for me. At Eastridge their is a stage, and how it's set up is akin to concert stage. There is white drapery that turned multi-colored by the lights, their is the base, rock and roll music and a catchy tune at all times during the songs of worship. They still come off as love songs to God, which I think are the point...but I find it's easy for me to get lost in the rhythms, they are the ones I hear on the radio and in the process the words can be lost in the experience.
     I wished I could have talked to the people about it...what do others experience when the music plays? Do they have the same questions as me?
     Most of the service was music. This is why the question came up. I missed the sermon because I had to pick up my little sister, but the Pastor has been going through John leading up to Easter...but it felt like the music was an escape, though it could in fact be an inspiration.

      I talked to older woman today. She was really sweet and is in charge of the youth group. She was able to give me the history of Eastridge (there was a falling out with a Pastor in the West Seattle Campus at one point, but the West Seattle campus asked to rejoin and is now a part of the main campus again). Eastridge also was once a smaller building before the large Mars Hill like (in technology, music, diversity). There old building is now a youth center and may be a Christian School someday.
      I told her about my visiting other churches and talked her about life, being graduated, being on the Newman Choir and planning on teaching English in China. She told me of the ministries at Eastridge I could get involved in...

    I don't know if I could though. If I was I wouldn't be doing this blog, there wouldn't be faith visits. I need to find a way to get involved volunteerwise to help in the community, and perhaps I could do that through Eastridge on Wednesdays...but Sundays, and weekends are the weekends of exploration. Those weekends are when I share my experiences with everyone and what I discover and learn.

   Is that a ministry though? Am I helping anyone with this blog? This blog is an exploration, but I hope it's more then that and I need to do what I can to make it more then that. It's about the messages of the faiths, the experiences, and most of all the people (which sadly some of my posts lack), and recently letting others tell their story from their own words, not from discussions I've had with them, as well as my experience with all these things. Is it a ministry though? Should it be a ministry?

   Part of what it means to be human, to be a writer, to live, is to grow...and I hope this blog has grown, but I feel it can grow in ways I'm not aware of. 

   That's the question I don't know, and I would love to hear your thoughts on.

Christian Science Reading Room - Olympia, WA - Febuary 12th 2011

     Church of Christ, Scientist. That is the name of the faith. Who are the Christian Scientists? The Christian Scientists came from the religion founded by Mary Baker Eddy. She was injured and after reading a Biblical passage about Jesus healing found her injury healed. She then founded the religion in 1866. From there she wrote "Science and Health with Keys to the Scripture." This book's commentary on the Bible are the basis to this faith I discovered in my visit to their reading room.

      The people who work there are volunteers. I talked to an older woman and an older man. They were both very sweet and gave me a card for visiting their Church, and where it was located. 

    The Christian Science reading room is a great resource for a lot of information in regards to information about the Faith and the Christian Science Monitor, which is actually a magazine of pretty good quality. The other magazine called The Christian Science Sentinel on the other hand...not so much. The miracle faith healings don't seem to be that much of miracles and are not based in science. Someone felt pain on a certain part of their body...and it went away, it seems like time and focus could have easily healed it then divine intervention (especially when compared to the miracles in the Bible proper). The high mortality rate among Christian Scientists also doesn't give me much credence to it actually working. Of course there is always the possibility it does. Here is a good article on them and their rejection of modern medicine:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/nyregion/24heal.html

What made me most uncomfortable about the reading though was it's focus on Mary Baker Eddy. Everytime the Bible is quoted it is quoted on "Mary Baker Eddy says in Science and Health with Keys to the Scripture..." It seemed less about the Bible proper and more about Mary Baker Eddy and what she revealed...

       This is something I've noticed with a lot of new movements in regards to Christianity though. Mormonism at times is more about Joseph Smith then Jesus, Mars Hill is all about what Mark Driscoll says about the Bible, just like Christian Science is about Mary Baker Eddy and what she says about the Bible...when do religions become more about the founders of the sects then the message of the faith? Throughout the Awakenings in Europe and America this ended up becoming a great factor I found. I think every religion has this danger though. Catholicism can do this with the Pope, and depending on the charisma of a Father the Orthodox Church can be just as guilty. It becomes more about the individual doing commentary on the message then the message itself.

       It's this I think that turns me away from me any religion as well, and why I tend to find more connection with my friends who are followers of the faiths, then many of the leaders (with the exception of smaller more local leaders). Because of a religion becoming more about the founder of the sect or current leader, what then becomes the question is: Are people just reinventing God in their own image?