Weekend thoughts

This is not a continuation of my exploration of Christian Scripture, but a compilation of thoughts.

Over the weekend, I spent a lot of time playing music, and talking with, other Christians. Part of the time was spent preparing for a night of intercession and worship next week.

In the communing, in practicing music, and in worshiping together, I was reminded of why I remain a part of the local Church.



They are a body of people who desire to know God better, and to worship Him more truly.

I am reminded of my own journey, also. I had a childhood steeped in the language and culture of faith. I also had a childhood steeped in book-learning; and strength of mind to memorize and reason about many things.

Somehow, that strength--and an attempt to pursue employment in the world of academia--turned into me a person disconnected from other people. And with no active relationship with God.

I was, functionally, an agnostic. Practically, I hid my vices and pretended to be good. Or mostly-good.

Eventually, the inconsistency between my private behavior and my professed beliefs caught up with me. The stress was too great.

A handful of people had reached out to me, encouraging me to put aside my attitude of hiding and become less of a stranger.

These people were also ministers; they administered the love of God to me in a human shape.

As I began to connect better with fellow believers, I also confessed my faults. And I was offered help in correcting my vices. In all this, I found myself drawing closer to God.

Or perhaps merely more aware of His Omnipresence...as well as His deep love for people in general, and for myself in particular. (Pitiable sinner that I am; I know not why He loves me. But He does.)

My rational mind enjoys absorbing things such as the Argument from Motion. Yet God is not the abstract First Mover in my mind. He is the One who took on flesh, and was willing to suffer death. He is the one who would have done it for me, were I the only person who could benefit from the deed. (Yet He did so for many others; among them my fellows-in-belief.)

The ancient stories of Genesis are a combination of family history and religious history of ancient nomads of the Middle East. The family history is unimportant, except that it shows how the relationship grew between these men and their Creator.

Why do I care about these stories?

Because these stories are part of the tradition that led me to God.