And so begins another blog!
I will ponder the journey of life from a perspective of faith in Jesus Christ. That faith is traditional and rooted in a catholic perspective with some evangelical influence. Reading the bible and supplementing it with the church Fathers is my main source of understanding. I am also drawn to Eastern Orthodox writings as well as Messianic Jews. Obviously, my faith is in flux. My own journey has taken many twists and turns. I have been a Roman Catholic priest, a social worker and am now an Epsicopal priest. I have spent many years in teaching and youth ministry. I have counseled emotionally disturbed children and trained hundreds of others to work with that population. In the last decade I have pastored a church (preaching, teaching, counseling, fund raising for needy). I was schooled in Europe and grew up in Chicago, Philadelphia, and Memphis. I have been a restless wander trying to "figure it out." At this point I still have more questions than answers. But I trust that in Jesus, His life, death and teaching, I will find the way. Jesus as understood as the One who transcends my viewpoint and understanding.
We live in a time of great conflict within the church and throughout the wider society. We grow weary of the culture wars. It is said that people are "spiritual" now, not religious. A growing number are agnostic. Church attendance is down 10% in the last decade as more and more people just walk away. Organized religion is lambasted as the haunt of intolerant people still living in the dark ages. There are some bad Christians. Yet my reading of history and my own experience has been that, in general, church-goers who truly love the Lord and seek to obey Him end up being decent folks. The great atheistic regimes of our time have had significant struggles with human rights and humane socitieties.
Big questions aside for a moment, we do have pretty wonderful lives much of the time. It is easy to take for granted all that we have: relationships, safety, food and drink, even entertainment. I certainly discern a lack of gratitude in my life. I also notice there is so much anger and frustration in me and in others. I believe that interacting with those who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith can challenge us to a deeper and more joyful life. Hopefully that is what will happen here. Hopefully, even if the world does not need another blog, there will be someone who does find this one worth reading.
