[Magdalen] She's leaving church

[Jay Weigel]

I'm pretty much over it too. I am currently reading Wolf Hall, and once
again I am overwhelmed by my feelings of how utterly STUPID it is to fight
over what someone else believes. What one believes is *personal* and I can
no longer deal with being beat over the head with someone else's beliefs.
Correction--I *will* no longer deal with it. I'm tired of the Islamists,
the Christofascists and bible-beaters, the weepers and wailers and gnashers
of teeth, and equally with the militant atheists and anti-theists, who I
find just as repugnant in quite another way. I go to church now and then
because I miss some ritual (and the seasons) and I really do like the
pastor at the Lutheran church I've been attending, but I'll never make it
as a Lutheran because I get too homesick for TEC, and although people are
friendly, I don't feel like I fit in there. As Molly says, I'm not done
with God, but I'm kind of done with church. I go sometimes, but I'm not
"getting it".  And I'm REALLY done with "religion"!

On Tue, Jun 2, 2015 at 8:46 AM, James Oppenheimer-Crawford <
oppenheimerjw at gmail.com> wrote:

> I have had similar feelings for some time.  Regarding church as a bunch
> that tries to make sense of something that ultimately just cannot. Looking
> at more and more of the elements as simply metaphor for something
> ineffable, but at last I just don't find it offering anything aside from
> the social amenities.
>
> My recorder group is affiliated with a local Lutheran church, and we were
> asked to provide some music for a service with combined folks from several
> congregations.  I think it was ascension or something.  I was welcomed into
> the combined choir, so I just stayed for the entire performance.  An old
> and dear friend from my old parish asked if I would possibly be coming back
> and I just said, "Music is my church now."
>
> I don't know how it seems to make sense for some and does not for others,
> and maybe it doesn't really matter.
>
> James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
> *“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
> except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy
>
> On Sun, May 31, 2015 at 11:39 AM, Molly Wolf <lupa at kos.net> wrote:
>
> > Dear pubbies,
> >
> > Last night I posted this on Facebook:
> >
> > "I think I am done with religion.  Not with God, of course, never with
> > God.  But with church (except for friends), with intellectual theology,
> and
> > with the Future of Christianity, I think I am done."
> >
> > I realized that my church (not necessarily the individuals but the
> > church-geist) promulgates the dysfunctional patterns that mis-shaped my
> own
> > soul's formation:  triangulation, resentments, scapegoating,
> > psychopatholigizing, the "spiritual bypass".  This has become blindingly
> > obvious in the last few weeks.  BTDT, not doing that again.
> >
> > I need to get out for my soul's safety and well-being, just as 40-years
> > ago I had to turn my back on my family and walk away, for my own
> survival.
> > I am, in a sense, grieving history as I repeat the most health-bound
> > decision I could make.
> >
> > I also find myself increasingly irritated by church's narcissism, whether
> > it's the idolatry of liturgy or preoccupation with the past or earnest
> > navel-gazing. Fewgawdsake, church, get over yourself!
> >
> > I need to find God.  And right now, I am living in Psalm 131.
> >
> > I'll show up on the odd Sunday morning for social reasons, but my soul
> has
> > left the building,
> >
> > Joining the company of the "dones",
> > Molly
> >
> > The man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no
> > other way. -- Mark Twain
>