This is not my blog.

I went to church today with my family. This was the Methodist church where I grew up, sang in the choir for, sat on two of the boards for as a teen, and spent a lot of time around growing up. I haven't been to a service there in a while. I went to the Christmas Eve service there not too terribly long ago and to my sister's wedding and my grandmother's funeral. It's interesting going back ... of course I say that things are "interesting" all the time I suppose. Today was the church's Thanksgiving dinner and mom and dad had invited my sister, her family, and me to join them. My sister had given me some joshing about going to church and demonstrated her ignorance of her own religion. She asked how I could go if I was an atheist. I told her that I had never said that I was an atheist and that I was not. She seemed puzzled and asked how I could not be a Christian and also not be an atheist. I asked her what made her a Christian and she couldn't tell me outside of going to church. I asked her to think about that and to let me know when she next saw me.

So I saw my sister today, she arrived after the service, and I asked her if she had figured out the answer to my question. She said that she had asked her husband to explain her beliefs to her and that it was because she believes that Jesus was Christ and died for the forgiveness of her sins. I asked why she didn't know that when I first asked her and she shrugged her shoulders. I always find this game interesting and puzzling. I think about religion a lot, as you intrepid readers have probably noticed, because it interests me what others find comforting about their faith. I love to ask people why they believe what they believe, not to be antagonistic beyond being a devil's advocate (a term which may have additional meaning here) but to know and to hear their interpretation.

This conversation with my sister earlier this week had me thinking about the Protestant Reformation and how those like Martin Luther really shook up the Church as it was known back then. What a shit stirrer Luther was when he issued his proclamation against the Catholic Church causing a schism in Christianity that would shape so much of how religion developed here in the new world of America. Interestingly enough, today's sermon had a lot to do with The Protestant Reformation even though the minister had selected the passage for a Reaffirmation of Baptism ceremony (Colossians 2:5-12). His message was eerily similar to that of the reformers when the minister asked "Why do we do the things that we do?" and his message was that the congregants need to increase their understanding so that the traditions of the church don't become more important than the message and that they come to church not just because they are supposed to but to gain a greater understanding of their view of God and Christ.

I found it ironic that my sister had missed this message given our conversation and the answer that she would give me in about 15 minutes when she arrived. Then the minister reminded me why I don't like church by saying that "Philosophies are hollow if they are not rooted in God." Sigh. Reading this section was confusing and reminded me of a debate that I once saw at WVU between a philosopher and a bible scholar where both sides came out feeling like their person "won" with one of my Christian friends finding her side's use of the seemingly irrelevant (to me) passages of The Bible to be brilliant. Of course, the philosophy fans, including my college roommate, were citing the brilliant use of logic and reasoning to hail their champion. I don't know if I've ever seen anything more futile in my life.

Anyway, I still had a pretty good time. I saw people I haven't seen since I was a kid and it was funny how many people I could still recognize even though it had been more than a decade since I've seen them.Other people were new or were kids when I had last been there and mom kept pointing them out to me, particularly those who she wanted me to know were single and "nice." We had a nice dinner and I managed to enjoy it and to resist the temptation of turkey making this now a week since I had any meat other than the fish that I had Thursday night. It is a strange thing to think about now and when I think about going to McDonalds it sort of turns my stomach a little ...so in that way I feel a little more free. Anyway, I did enjoy myself at church and I enjoyed seeing the family, old family friends, and playing with the nephews. Life is funny and it makes me reflect quite often as I'm sure I'll continue to reflect on this. Then it was off to band practice as we are preparing for our Holiday Concert (and that is what it's called) that will be at the LaBelle Theater in South Charleston on December 11, 2009 at 7:30pm if anyone wants to come.

Labels: band, religion, stories