Too long...it's been...too long.
I guess my recent absence again from posting on this blog is partly because I have another one that talks about my day to day life in Peru. Maybe even more of a reason is that I've been going through a spiritual crisis as of late. Although it's getting a little better now. I'm currently living in the middle of Peru doing my best to "save the world"...as if I believed that is possible.
I left the states with a chip on my shoulder towards Christianity and organized religion. Let me be a little more specific...I was mad at the Christian Church (capital C). I felt like it wasn't doing everything in it's power to live up to the Bible and what it tells us to do. Not that I expect it to be perfect, but I do expect it to be trying a little harder then the effort I saw in the last few years in the town in which I lived. Recently, God reminded me that you can't run away from your problems as I still have to encounter the blahs of everyday church in Peru. I'm finding that church here isn't much different than church in the US and that frustrates me too.
And some days I worry that what I'm looking for in a church doesn't even equate with how church is meant to be. Maybe my thinking is way off. I am just looking for a church that lives a little bit more outside the box with a view of the bigger picture, namely that there is this big huge world out there that needs to be love and receive love. I am largely frustrated that two of the hot button topics in Christianity now adays are rarely mentioned in the Bible. When did we give up God's commandments to love others in order to stand on picket lines against homosexuality and abortion? I guess I'm missing the point.
Anyway, I do feel like my anger is loosening a bit. I do realize that anything created in God's name is created for God's glory. I think the opening parts of Genesis are pretty clear about that. And I know that we're so imperfect, and it's not that I have a desire for perfection, I just desire something greater. I desire a church that looks for something greater. That looks for new ways to worship and new ways to reach out. Ah...only my dreams.
I left the states with a chip on my shoulder towards Christianity and organized religion. Let me be a little more specific...I was mad at the Christian Church (capital C). I felt like it wasn't doing everything in it's power to live up to the Bible and what it tells us to do. Not that I expect it to be perfect, but I do expect it to be trying a little harder then the effort I saw in the last few years in the town in which I lived. Recently, God reminded me that you can't run away from your problems as I still have to encounter the blahs of everyday church in Peru. I'm finding that church here isn't much different than church in the US and that frustrates me too.
And some days I worry that what I'm looking for in a church doesn't even equate with how church is meant to be. Maybe my thinking is way off. I am just looking for a church that lives a little bit more outside the box with a view of the bigger picture, namely that there is this big huge world out there that needs to be love and receive love. I am largely frustrated that two of the hot button topics in Christianity now adays are rarely mentioned in the Bible. When did we give up God's commandments to love others in order to stand on picket lines against homosexuality and abortion? I guess I'm missing the point.
Anyway, I do feel like my anger is loosening a bit. I do realize that anything created in God's name is created for God's glory. I think the opening parts of Genesis are pretty clear about that. And I know that we're so imperfect, and it's not that I have a desire for perfection, I just desire something greater. I desire a church that looks for something greater. That looks for new ways to worship and new ways to reach out. Ah...only my dreams.
posted by Ari | 3:39 PM
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