Mother's Day...when I think of Mother's Day I think of a celebration of all Mother's regardless of their gender, sexuality, nationality, past or present. I experienced some of that here in the final talk, but the first talk left a bad taste since the legal expression of it has been witnessed in the world today in places like Uganda and Russia...
First, for new readers I am an ex-Mormon. This is largely due to my disagreements with doctrine and the past of the Holy Books and history of the faith and the fact that the Supernatural is unknown and cannot be tested so I cannot by the very nature of it believe in the supernatural (same reason I'm not part of any religion outside of Unitarian Universalism really). I'll go into more detail as I talk about the service.
The service began with a song from the old hymn, which was pretty and after the Bishop made the opening remarks and a woman did the opening prayer.
After was another song and finally the first talk.
The first talk started out okay (the man thanked all the women in his life and who he admired in the congregation), it could have easily continued on the theme of humanism and still remained just...instead it used Cicero to argue for the Nuclear family and put Cicero in agreement with conservative religion. The man than tied the talk into how other families are against God's plan (implying divorced, gay, lesbian and queer couples are bringing about the end and second coming). I hadn't heard that much implied hate since visiting the Muslim Association of Olympia, Mars Hill and Calvary Chapel...
What does attacking different families actually do? I agree that marriage is good for society, it is one reason I support Gay Marriage. Marriage promotes stability and acceptance and connects us all together. It recognizes the love a couple shares and with it the community who would be there anyway will help raise the child. Nothing is gained and only harm is given when LGBTQ families are attacked and their children taken from them.
The argument against these relationships hinges on arguments from authority. The weakest of the arguments since it says nothing for the content of the argument which is usually always circular in nature. It is right because it is right, basically.
After was another song and finally the last talk which was more more inclusive. The woman who spoke recognized all the women in her life and how important motherhood is. Except for her mentioning Satan destroying the Kingdom of God on Earth if people don't stay righteous at the beginning (Red Flag for me with any religion - see the ones I mentioned above), it was a good talk. It was personal stories of her life as a mother and growing up with an adopted mother. The message was nearly universal except for defining women purely by their sex which happened once during the talk.
Today was one reason I don't like visiting religions with a conservative bent...because it is never just kept in the group, it is brought out into law that seeks to criminalize or separate those who are different. Religions and groups that I connect to do not seek to tear apart families that differ in gender or sex, nor do they seek to destroy "Traditional families," (The 1950's Nuclear Family ideal). All are welcome, which is one thing I admire so much about secular humanism. It gives the freedom for each person to worship and live as they will without infringing on their freedom. The golden rule of "Do no harm," is lived in practice and all families are recognized. I hope this can happen worldwide for there is so far yet to go.
A religion has every right to live by its own rules as long as those rules do not infringe upon another's well being, love and happiness. For it is in that legalism that love and justice die replaced by a religious form of tyranny.
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church is a smaller Catholic Church connected to a school. It is beautiful inside with the stations of the cross and life size colored statues of Jesus and Mary, as well as the Golden Eucharist holder and open Bible on both sides of the altar.
Before I arrived and read the magazine they had for vocations. Apparently Vestel Virgins are a still a thing, you just have to talk to your Bishop...it only applies to women though, which again with the obsession with female sexuality that religion seems to have (like the native religion Cuzco where the Priestesses were kept locked away for their virginity to remain pure).
The congregation is old and when I arrived contradictory. Everyone who came sat in their own pew and had distance between them. It was private, though before I'd heard two people conversing about life and in one case what sounded like fighting. Once the service started everything settled down, and an older woman announced the theme as being a journey as we would be journeying with the apostles.
The theme I got was different. First, before we get to the sermon. Besides the fact that sound carries (so the fighting was loud before the service as well as every conversation) the music wasn't my thing.
Now for the pros. The priest was one of the most humble of men. His favorite quote was him admitting that he doesn't have what the congregation has. That the priest may be a stand in for the Sacrament but based off the readings...Jesus is where two or more people in relationship are. This was the story, which the priest saw as a metaphor since the town the apostles were heading to there is no archeological evidence for of it even existing and Jesus appearing and speaking to them (them discussing the Bible amongst themselves lead to them returning to the "City of Peace" Jerusalem, after the conflict and lost place they were. I think this shows that to do good and to live with virtue there has to be those who you are being or virtuous to. He expressed how this was important to him and his ministry as a priest. It was a powerful sermon and definitely the best part.
I had to leave early to catch the next Church visit but I plan on visiting again...at the very least to talk to the priest who was definitely one of the most humble and smart men I've heard up on the podium.
Maundy Thursday, the day of Holy Week that celebrates Jesus's foot washing of his disciples and his famous, "Love one another as I have loved you." Essential Christianity and Christianity at its best. The first thing I noticed besides how there were half as many people as Ash Wednesday was the color change. The priests were wearing white and the tapestry was also white a lamb that had a halo around it. The congregation was also quite as the choir practiced. I had come early worrying about getting seating because of my last experience here.
The service itself was beautiful. It emphasized community and living love out to the world. This was symbolized in the hand washing which was done instead of foot washing...I'm guessing to save time, and feet are something that is pretty vulnerable and hard to share (touching a person's feet anyway) so I can understand why it wasn't done. I don't know how I'd feel having my feet washed by a stranger even if it did feel good and refreshing.
The hand washing still served the same purpose, it was a small symbolic and kind act to share with a stranger. I had my hands washed and dried off by another and I dried off another's hands too. It made me sad in hindsight that we aren't able to share this a lot of the time with the people we meet because I know I at least can be an island at times and enjoy my space...which makes it hard to reach out to another unless they are already a connection...a friend, partner or family member.
That is why I think there is power in the "As I have loved you, love one another." To give up the clothes on your back to a stranger, to give up your possessions to service to God and the poor. These are radical life changing things...things I hope to strive for...though I still hold on to practicalness. Money for living, community and self. When the fact is, all that is much bigger than me and what I am aware of.
One thing I noticed too was the dichotomy surrounding the Eucharist. After the reading about the last supper the priest emphasized we were to eat the bread and wine in memory of Jesus as he asked...there was nothing about him being the literal body and blood, not until we got the Eucharist. It was a realization that the practice of the Eucharist and seeing it as more than just a memory of a supper shared, probably came around later. Since during the supper Jesus emphasized how he was Teacher and Lord (which in the context felt like a Lord and his vassals not God).
It was a wonderful service, and I once more left before the Eucharist since I'm not a Catholic and I'm not about to eat at someone else's table out of respect unless I'm invited too.
My visit to the Cathedral Church of Saint Mark was for me a chance to see a lot of what I like about organized religion, mixed with the reason on why I don't see myself ever becoming a complete believer in a Deity, and why I consider myself Agnostic.
What I like about religion is social action and involvement with helping surrounding area and community, the quiet place for thought it can give as well as a place to think on ethics and in many cases provide good ethics as well as social justice in regards to helping the poor and equal rights and treatment of women and members of the LBGTQ community.
First to describe the location. The church is old, dating back to the late 1800's and has two buildings connected to it. The Episcopal Center of Utah, which is their headquarters and the Hildegarde's food pantry, which provides food to homeless in the area.
The pantry is somewhere I could see myself volunteering because of the direct action and help it gives in peoples lives. It also doesn't discriminate like some religious agencies and groups do in regards to who they help and serve. This living love and treating all with fairness and equality is what I look for in any group, especially one that ties so much of its identity into something greater than itself.
The main building has a gate and garden, as well as a bell at the very top. Inside the Cathedral is the main area with the altar and on the other side a beautiful organ, much like Cathedral of the Madeleine's, the Catholic Cathedral that is the street behind Saint Mark's. The area where we had the service was in a tiny chapel that was right next to the main altar. It was here that the Eucharist was kept and candles covered another altar.
Now for the service. At the service there were four people present, including the priest. The priest was a kind older man from Tennessee. The service began with the Confession of Sin and after Trisagion, which reads:
Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holly Immortal One,
Have Mercy Upon us.
After were the readings, which were Genesis, when Abram is blessed by God and goes out, followed up by Paul's Letter to the Romans about how Spirit can only beget Spirit and Flesh can only beget flesh, and ending with Jesus's famous quote from that day's reading from John about "No one can come through the Father except through me," and that the "Son did not come to condemn, but to save."
The homily described faith as the main thing that Grace is something so beyond us that we can never understand it, but that it gives us more than we know. I understand the idea theologically of Grace but find that I can't fully believe in it or really anything like it...whatever comes from something that I cannot see or know I can only doubt. This is a major reason I don't think I could join most organized religions. I may think there is something greater simple due to probability for the complexity of life and possibilities of the universe. But I cannot know. There is no way for me to test, so I continue to explore and learn and grow. It is in these halls that the ethics of Christ's life are an inspiration to me and the social action in the community of truly living with love towards all.
It was a great service and I enjoyed talking to the priest and two of the colder congregants afterword. We mostly talked about how much Salt Lake City has changed and a bit more of the community of Saint Mark's. Who I look forward to visiting again.
Issaquah Christian Church was an interesting experience, overall good as far as the message is concerned and space being respected. The sermon was about "The Dragon and the Nativity" and worked on incorporating the Devil into the Nativity story (and tying the Nativity into the Fall at Genesis and visions in Revelations). Considering my view of the Supernatural I don't know if God exists, so do doubt the existence of a malevolent force of evil too, I am a bit of an empiricist and skeptic when it comes to the Supernatural and things that cannot be tested. Why I say it was overall good was because of the focus in the sermon.
The focus of the sermon was the "So What?" The nativity story involves the social ostracizing of Mary and Joseph, both by the people in Bethlehem, and most likely Joseph's family if he had any, considering Mary was pregnant when they weren't married yet. It reminded me of how it could just as easily apply to a Gay or Trans couple...kicked out of their family because of their love and the child they chose to care for. In that way Jesus and the Devil as symbols of how we treat one another was very relevant to me.
I know that I can do so much better for living love for others and being there for those who have no one. To me that was what the sermon and service reminded me of.
The music was alright, there was a lot of passion from the singers and the people, and the songs were what I'd heard at most modern Christian services in regards to Christian Rock.
My space was also respected, when I was there I got to remain anonymous and not pressured to join, which is a plus for me for any Church visit.
The structure of the service was announcements, three songs, communion, the sermon, collection, final announcements and then everyone left.
The environment was simple, which I liked, though I wish there had been more talk of social justice abroad...Haiti was mentioned but only as bringing over Christian music and radios...I was hoping education would at least get a mention as part of the mission. The sermon was also good when not taken literally but seen as symbolic as the potential we have with one another and strangers each and everyday.
There are millions of ostracized Mary and Joseph's, just looking for acceptance, home and a safe to be...be it the refugees, the homeless, GLBTQ folks, and those who have been rejected simply for being who they are.
The Kingdom Praise Church is located on Tiger Mountain. It is a House Church (meaning it is located inside of a room set aside in the house for worship) and in a area with no lighting, well that is Tiger Mountain for you. I had tried getting there once before but to no avail, luckily this time I was successful.
This Church was a great exploration of what I see as the pros and cons within the Evangelical tradition as well as the blind spots in Conservative Christianity as a whole, the greatest blind spot which is its view of homosexuality. I noticed this when the old man leading the service referred to his married brother as living the homosexual lifestyle, because the Bible was literal truth (and the reading was from the Old Testament) it didn't matter if God's laws were unethical and wrong in regards to the matter, because it was God's Law it was good by default. I think this nails why I prefer philosophy to religion as well when it comes to ethics...if someone said God did it and there is evidence in a book inspired by God, anything is permissible no matter how it may hurt others.
The pros I noticed in the service were how each time there was an attempt to call back to not judge, that each persons experience and knowledge of God was personal and from their own exploration of the Bible, the man leading it even said that quickly after his judgement on his brother...which honestly gives me hope for him seeing the love in his brother's relationship someday. There was also passion and kindness, I was a complete stranger who only two of the people had met once at the Healing Rooms of Issaquah that I did in one of my past visits, but they respected me and the fact that I said I'd just come to listen and observe.
The talk was mostly focused on Genesis and the ark and it was there some of the mystic tradition came out too. With Ego being man before the flood and enlightened man escaping on the ark, Jesus being the ark was not as much of the service until later in the service...before that time there was emphasis on God almost being metaphor of our greater selves, God living within us and us escaping our base nature. It would later take a turn of being read as an historical narrative, which changed that metaphorical view though...
It was a fascinating experience, but one I don't plan on repeating. The places I plan to visit multiple times are those that line up with my humanistic values which I see as much closer to whatever the Good is (and are closer to Jesus lived) than the condemnation of innocent groups and allowing of wrong by God because the Word is seen as literal.
What a glorious day it was. This was my first wedding I've attended since my parents remarried and suffice to say this was how I always imagined a wedding to be. Friends and family all there supporting the couple, an organ playing in the back as I waited for it to begin and the processional with the best men and women and the families with their sons and the ring-bearer.
The wedding was my friend Kyle's wedding and his marriage to his husband. I didn't know Leland all that well (having only met him once), but I saw how happy he has made Kyle since their getting together, which was more than enough for me.
The wedding was at the Episcopal church so it was an Episcopal ceremony. The priest explained the significance of the marriage (love between the couple shared with one another and with their community) before the two readings were done after the Declaration of Consent. They were about celebration and relationship: Philippians 4:4-9 and Colossians 3:12-16. After which was the sermon before the most powerful part.'
The sermon talked about how marriage is a blessing to the couple and to the community and how the love exchanged between both is like God with us. It was beautiful and nailed what I appreciate about religion. Religion can bring this between groups and people and add the authority of a group that which benefits the individuals and in how the couple is benefited the group is too.
Next was the exchanging of vows. The vows were read by the priest and repeated by the couple and seeing the emotion in the eyes and face of the couple...love is difficult to describe but that was one of the greatest definitions before us all.
First was the Lord's Prayer and after the intercession which was prayers for the couple from the community for the married couple.
After was the final blessings and final pronouncement of the marriage. Congratulations again Kyle and and his husband! May you know contentment and happiness in your marriage.
Afterwords I was fortunate enough to make more friends and celebrate Kyle's marriage with his friends and family.
Today was the day I would be seeing much more of the Christian community that makes up Nanjing. The church was St. Paul's Church, an Anglican Church founded in 1923. When I arrived it was crowded as in the main Chapel a wedding was being prepared for. It was a bit overwhelming because of all the people...I then got a call from my friend who let me know where the English service was, which was in a smaller but more spacious, less crowded area in a different building.
The theme of the service was the love of God. As the program said at the beginning, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."
When I arrived it had just begun so I caught the scripture reading and Apostles Creed before the hymn and then sermon.
The first thing I noticed was how humble the place was. There was a single wooden cross in front of red drapes and the altar where the people would go to speak. The second thing I noticed was the music. Those old English hymns when sung by a good choir are some of the most heavenly things in the world. That was a major good that I experienced today, was the beauty of those hymns.
The sermon was from a brother of the church. He was quite passionate and talked about how love of Jesus means claiming souls. This line reminded me of how Christianity and Islam are the most aggressive religions historically when it comes to gaining converts (through peaceful and military means). For a while a lot of it was good and I thought he was describing virtue really well (carrying for the sick and for others, as well as loyalty to friends), and then he went off on a tangent. He brought gay marriage into it and seemed to be saying two things:
1) Those who believe in Gay Marriage are moral relativists and that "The world is" (which isn't not always true).
2) That there are false prophets in the Church who support gay marriage.
His words reminded me of how unwelcome the Church can be to people and how the love isn't unconditional, but conditional. The ironic thing in it was that some interpretations of Jonathan's relationship to David was in fact homosexual and that was what he was using to illustrate how we should love and be loyal to God (unlike Saul who used David for his vanities).
Besides the end of the sermon/tangent, it was a really enjoyable service. It was great being there with my friend I'd made last week. Afterwords I joined him and his friends for Lunch and their had a discussion with one of them in regards to Christianity versus philosophy in what should be valued. Both of us believed in truth and virtue the difference was I doubted the Bible and Christ as God (Christ can be a great example for how to live I think, just like Lao Tzu and the other great men), but I do think admitting ones own flaws and being honest about it is the only way to move forward and to grow as a person (or for a peoples to grow).
Where we differed most was I believe our relationships to others and our own actions are the most important thing that we know (living virtuously and growing), as well as the quest for truth. He believed that the truth came down from Jesus and that humanity is so broken that only belief saves us (via reward in the afterlife due to Jesus's sacrifice on the cross).
He brought up the C.S. Lewis Trilemma of Jesus being "Lunatic, Liar or Lord," as proof of Jesus's divinity, which for me didn't quite do it. There have been many throughout history who were delusional on some things but still super smart and ethical on others. He was flawed and human like them. What makes him different?
He's a kinesthetic learner and all about experience. His experiences with people who are believers and through church and relationship made him who he is. For me that's true as well, but so much of my experience of learning is through books, hearing, introspection and that was when we realized how our ways of learning compliment one another.
I told him I'd pray to Jesus and see what happens. Though I don't know if that's the best way to check the validity of Christianity (check it's claims) in regards to greater truths or the revelation it claims to be. Historically a lot of it doesn't hold up literally (Exodus, Genesis, Noah's Ark), but that doesn't change the value of the stories (though their are some un-virtuous practices in the Bible done in God's name).
It was a great day and it reminds me why I do the blog. It's about the human relationships and the quest for truth...it's the discussions and the learning that comes through discussion, study and experience.
Today I visited the Calvary Chapel of Olympia for the first time. It was something I've been meaning to do for a while. The Campus Minister Greg who you've read about in some of the early entries one of which was on Greeners 4 Christ and the Problem of Evil. If you read the post you saw that I felt the question wasn't completely answered, and it may be one that never is. I better learned today why I am not a Christian though and why I never took that step of conversion.
The premise of Christianity is that man was once perfect and fell from the grace of God. Since then God's been punishing the world for not worshiping him and living righteously, leading up Jesus, God becoming a man to reconcile humanity's imperfection and receiving grace again (though same rules of righteousness still apply and old laws of reconciliation carry over to confession of sins to Jesus rather then sacrifice of animals on the altar).
Why am I bringing this up? Because the service I heard was about what the Bible says...not the spirit of the Law, but the actual events, the letter...God's reaction and living of "love" for man. Pastor Chuck talked about Kings, giving a history of the 2 Kingdoms of Israel that had came about after Solomon's United Kingdom of Israel, one King still followed God's laws in Leviticus, the other King was back to worshiping fertility Gods and the Earth. A prophet visited the King of the Kingdom that was not worshiping God and said it would be destroyed, he then left because God told him not to stay. On his way back to his home another prophet told him to come and eat with him, lying and saying that "Angels had told him it was okay." The prophet went back and the other prophet's son condemned the prophet coming back and as the Prophet tried returning home to make amends he was mauled on the road by a lion.
Because he didn't make God's statement fully by leaving and not going back the way he had come, God punished him with death.
Is that love? Does a King who claims to love his messenger execute him if he messes up in sending his message a little bit? and if the messenger does mess up, is it Good and Righteous to kill said messenger? God should be held to a higher standard then Kings who we know that it would be evil if they killed their messenger if he slightly messed up their message, or messed up their message. The King can speak for himself, and should speak for himself.
The Pastor brought up how God is specific about what he wants from us. That we must be righteous and that Good does not come from society. I agree with this statement, but also think that it does not come from the Bible either. The Bible like many books of quality stories not all the time speak of Good and Righteousness, but God does not always act with either...especially in the Old Testament.
False prophets were spoken about. Wolves in sheep's clothing. Similar to the Blue Sky Sermon I heard and it reminded of Mars Hill. He said the Devil could quote scripture and water it down to lead people to Hell so he could devour them. Why such evil is allowed to exist by something that is supposed to be all Good in the Bible...I do not know.
Love was also brought up too. He mentioned that "Men love men," and "Women love women," and that it is love, but it's not what God intended and that Jesus can transform them (Gays, Lesbians, Transgender, Queer, Bisexual people) by working in their hearts when they accept him. This I felt was evil because of what this philosophy has brought about for GLBTQ people. It's this "love" that brings about the camps that try and "fix" gay people through of use of Christ. That leads many Gay people to kill themselves because in the darkness that comes with personal faith in any religion, it's seen as rejection by God...and if God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, what are they supposed to think? The fruits that come out of this philosophy that doesn't recognize Gay relationships as valid love in God's eyes leads to such much repression and harm. Abstinence works for some, but not all people, and if God is love and the love from which all love flows out, then all consensual love that has possibility of raising children or not (adopting, straight couples who choose not to procreate), then it would embrace that relationship as the most loving people do.
He used the slippery slope argument saying that we have already seen the consequences of getting rid of the Sodomy Law in Texas with an Incestuous Father using the court case that overturned that law to support his relationship with his daughter who was of consenting age (24, it been going on for 3 years, so she was 21 when it started). Which also was ignoring the evils of neighbor reporting on neighbor and the fact that Gays, Lesbians, Transgender, Queer and Bisexual people were and could have continued to be imprisoned for the love they share for one another that the Sodomy Law criminalized.
He also quoted the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip who said that, "The American Empire will fall because of it's 'immorality,' 'open sexuality' and 'injustice," and agreed with him. He said the pagan worshiping, immorality and the worship of excess was the reason the Kingdom of Israel fell because it no longer followed God and the same would be for America as it was for other nations. He then told the congregation they were the salt of the Earth and could start by keeping evil from their own homes, even if they couldn't change the country.This would be done by choosing what video-games kids are allowed to play, and what they watch on television and in movies. Which I think parents should do...but should be smart about. Now on the subject of Empires falling because of "sexual immorality."
Greed is a big reason a country would fall, but what he described as sexual immorality was not the reason that Rome, the Han Dynasty, the Mongol Empire, the Inca, British, French, Safavid, Russian, Soviet, Ottoman Empires and others fell. There were factors such as not caring for those whom they were occupying, allowing of personal rights (the slave societies with slave revolts), not having a strong military or strong leaders, oppression, inability to please all classes, not enough taxes, over-taxation of the poor, famines, diseases and attacks from the outside from other Empires were what brought them down. Who is sleeping with whom only has to do with it in regards to court politics among the Nobles when the Nobles existed in regards to destabilization.
I wish I'd stayed after to talk and not worried about what time to catch the bus back up to Evergreen. I need to speak up for what is true and right. The only way I can see the Good that God is in the Old Testament being true, is if these stories are metaphors and not events that actually happened. Take any story, whether it's Noah's Ark, the Prophets, or Genesis. Look at God's acts and then put a human in God's place and see if a human did those acts, if it would still be love? Would the acts be good if they contradict his own Laws of the 10 Commandments? If the Judge is not following his own laws then what does that mean?
There is much more to say and I wish I hadn't been waiting to catch the bus so I could stick around longer. Have the discussions that I hope this blog can provide. The people were kind, but in the words about Gays, history of Nations and Empires, and God as described was poison. It was poison because it was not true. It contradicted itself and it's aim of love and justice it claimed to speak for. The truth is there and should be sought...but I could not find it in Kings or the Bible that day...and there is enough of these contradictions and acts of jealousy, and petty punishments of believers of said God by God, that I cannot believe that this is that God described who believed in the Golden Rule and whom is supposed to be the Good from which all Good and Virtue flows from.
