Talking church...

Last weekend, as I'd mentioned in a previous post, I was fortunate enough to travel to St. Leo's Abbey here in the Tampa Bay area to attend their monthly oblate meeting. I'd been talking with my parents that morning but had selectively chosen to share that I was going to Tampa for a meeting of some like-minded people to discuss Christ. My reasoning for that was simple. My parents are good, old-fashioned, and kind people. They raised me in an independent Baptist church, which they no longer attend. As a matter of fact, they no longer attend a church of any kind. Why? I'm not entirely sure. But, the thing that kept me the most from sharing this was that my mother was converted from Catholicism and much of my upbringing recalls hearing the dangers of the Catholic Church.

Well, last night I was over at their house since it was my Dad's sixty-first birthday and I wanted to spend some time with him. The discussion flowed here and there, came around my little article which is finally losing steam and which I'd sent them a link to just because I knew they'd like to see me "in print", and centered on some areas of spirituality. We discussed topics of church and the failures we see in it. We discussed our theologies of salvation and judgment and all sorts of stuff. Eventually, I felt led to share where I'd gone on Sunday.

It was weird. I'm not entirely sure how they took it. On some level, I think it was okay with them. On another, there was a lot of silence. It's funny how little my Mom really did seem to learn in the Catholic Church, which I realize is one of the chief objections some have toward it. I don't know. I'm glad I shared it with them. It wasn't some big secret but I really wasn't up for the whole "heretic" discussion either, not that they would have leveled that claim at me as others might.

By the way, for some who might be reading this and getting to know me for the first time, I'm not a heretic. In fact, most of my views are quite orthodox. I do, however, realize, in humility, that I do not have it all figured out. I also realize that God, as big and as sovereign as He truly is, knows what He's doing as He leads and guides all of us. And I do believe that He is working in each of our lives, whether we're aware of it or not.