Happenings of Interest (and frustration)

I just wanted to share a few of the things I've got going on right now.

Firstly, I've got a few ideas lined up for some blog topics, these will be forthcoming as soon as I find the time to work on them.

Secondly, I'm getting ready to graduate at the end of this coming summer. If all goes as planned, I'll be transient at Georgia State to take two Religious Studies classes. Here are the course descriptions:

RELS 3230 PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION 3.0
Philosophy of Religion.
(Same as Phil 3230.)
Issues such as the nature of religion, arguments for the
existence of God, the problem of evil, faith and reason,
religious experience, immortality, myth and symbol, and
alternative religious philosophies.

RELS 3270 WORLD RELIGIONS 3.0
World Religions.
Survey and comparison of the beliefs and practices of the
major world religions including Christianity, Islam,
Judaism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.

I'm really excited about this because I've taken philosophy classes, but haven't had the opportunity to take any religion courses, now's my chance! I'll be working this out in the weeks to come.

I'm really getting swamped this semester with reading and papers! The main source of this problem is my American Literature survey class. I'm used to essay tests by now, no surprise there, but this teacher is crazy!!! Instead of a test being a reward for coming to class, it's another source of extra work I have to do. He assigns 3 topics and expects you to prepare an essay for each of the 3 topics. Then, on test day, he will randomly select one of the 3 for you to write.
Now, I ask, what is the point of this? As if there wasn't enough for us to worry about already, we get to write 3 essays--only ONE of which will matter. There's little enough time to study as it is, let alone when one has three essays to write.
And say nothing of the fact that most students are taking 3-4 other classes besides! Each with their own set of assignments and expectations.

Does one's ability to "just barely make it" show that they have learned? Wouldn't it make sense to actually simplify matters so that a student's true comprehension can shine through? For surely, writing three essays, two of which will disappear, does none of this.

If you can't tell, I'm really irritated about this. Just one more example of how the educational system shows little regard for whether a student excels or not.

Monastery of the Holy Spirit

Over the last couple days, I’ve been trying to get my thoughts around my trip to the Monastery of the Holy Spirit. It was an amazingly peaceful, eye-opening, and reflective experience. I’d have to say this was one of the most memorable field trips I have ever been on. The most memorable parts of the trip were the silent lunch and standing in the sanctuary. Please note, I’m not Catholic so I may misuse terminology, for that I apologize in advance. Also, please note that the images are from the monastery's website and I have linked the images back to the site.

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It was chilly and windy when Mom and Dad picked me up for our excursion to Conyers. Things started off a little crazy, we get to Hardee’s in Marietta for breakfast to realize that—none of us had remembered to get directions! We decided to wait until we reached Conyers and then ask directions. We ended up getting directions in a liquor store, surprisingly enough!

Then, once we reached the monastery, we found out that my teacher, and a good portion of our group had not yet arrived! So, we milled around the bookstore and welcome room until the rest showed up within the hour. After a brief meeting, we were then free to roam around the grounds until 1, when we’d be meeting with Father James Behrens.

The first place of note was the church. After passing through the heavy, wooden doors, and passing through the shadowed foyer, the most striking feature of the sanctuary is the colors. The walls were undecorated, white stone, which glowed in the blue light given off from the stained glass windows above. Further in, on the far side of the sanctuary (where the altar is) the blue glow gives way to bright yellow light that beams down on the altar on which the Eucharist is performed. Above all this is the Salve window, which depicts Mary “holding the enthroned Christ Child and overshadowed by symbols of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.”

As I stood there in the back, I just soaked up the colors and the silence. There were moments when I’d get that tingly feeling on the back of my neck that just relaxed me into this very peaceful environment. It would be appropriate to say that, standing there, you could feel the sacredness of the place.

After we left the church, we walked down to the lake to look around, but then the wind picked up so, since it was nearing 1:00, we went on to the Retreat House to wait on the group to gather. Waiting in the foyer, I tried the coffee they had brewing which was from a Trappist monastery in the Andes Mountains. I must say that, although I didn’t buy any, it was some of the best coffee I have had! Anyways, we were just waiting around, when one of the monks came out of the Silent Area and asked if we’d like to have some lunch. After a brief hesitation, Mom and I looked at Dad and we then followed the monk back into the Silent Area where there was a small cafeteria.

The amazing part of this was that—apart from some whispering when getting the food and a recitation of the Hail Mary—the entire meal was conducted in silence. The meal, small but filling, consisted of a piece of fried chicken, steamed carrots and broccoli, coleslaw, bread, and apple pie. This meal gave me the best understanding of the contemplative nature of monastic life; the idea that every action, every aspect of one’s life becomes a contemplative communion with God.

I don’t really have much to say regarding the meeting with Father James Behrens, apart from the fact that he definitely showed that the commonly-held image of monks is often misplaced. He was very down-to-earth, laidback, and funny.

The funniest thing regarding our meeting with Father Behrens had nothing to do with him, but a case of mistaken identity. When we were all waiting for him to arrive, my teacher comes in and, seeing my Dad, quizzically asks, “. . . Father Behrens?” He had mistaken Dad to be the monk, to which Dad just laughed and said no, he was with me. Today in class, I smiled when this story was relayed to the class as I was told that Dad just looked, to my teacher, like an Irish priest!

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To close, I went back to Pilgrimage this past Sunday, and I’m feeling pretty comfortable going there, the atmosphere is very non-threatening and accepting. I’m still trying to discover what my thoughts and feelings are towards my spiritual development, but I’m comfortable with this period of change, so far.

Please keep an eye on the photo section of my own website for a few pictures I took from the trip.

How I ended up in a UCC church last Sunday

We're barely even a month into 2007 and I'm already noticing how this year is feeling different and full of change. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I'm not sure where this is all going. I'm just doing the best I can to keep up and not miss anything (which I'm quite good at doing).

Sometime around late-November, early-December, with Christmas coming up, I began to feel a certain degree of ambivalence when it came to my spirituality. I began to realize that, while I still shared many of the beliefs and opinions, I no longer felt at home with my Unitarian Universalist spirituality.

Prior to midterms this past summer, I had reassessed myself and felt lead back to Unitarian Universalism from my stint with Paganism. I felt that I needed to take my Pagan beliefs and reapply them into a Unitarian Universalist context. This is reflected in another old blog of mine. But then, at Christmas, I was feeling lead towards another spiritual move--this one would be a big one.

When I visited my aunt in Texas for the holidays, I bought a Bible at the discount bookstore. Of course I had bibles back home, but I felt the urge to have a new one. And I wanted one that either had no devotional materials, or ones that didn't go out of the way to twist verses into an admonition against homosexuality. I found one that I liked, and bought it. Of course, not yet knowing where things were going, my reason for the purchase was "so I could have one to reference for school papers if I needed one."

Then, I get home and go with a good friend of mine to Borders and that is where I felt the urge to go and look in the Christian book area. This was where I saw The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian McLaren. I also noticed that McLaren had other books, particularly striking was the title, A New Kind of Christian. Reading the backs of these books I decided I would investigate them and the author online and just see what they were all about. About a week or so later, I went to Borders again and bought The Secret Message of Jesus.

I just finished reading it a few days ago, and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by what McLaren had to say. I still despise the notions of an elitist, isolationist, self-righteous Christianity, so I was glad to read McLaren's view that was more in-line with what I imagine was really what Jesus meant. I especially liked that, at times, McLaren mentions the possibility that "what if Muslims, Buddhists, or Jews grasped Jesus' message before Christians did and entered the Kingdom of God before them?" Now, this is something I really like, here is a Jesus who you can believe in without renouncing who you are entirely.

Around the reading of this, I began to investigate churches in the area that would be open to gay people and not view us as "someone in need of changing." Of course, I first looked into the MCC, but while their beliefs are appealing to me, they just weren't geographically feasible for an actual visit. I emailed the pastor there anyways and inquired about if he knew of any churches in my area that would be accepting. I continued to research online and found Pilgrimage UCC's website and sent an inquiry to the minister. Then, I heard back from the MCC minister who said that he didn't know of any churches specifically, but that some UCC churches were accepting. This would be coincidence number 1.

I have not heard from Pilgrimage's minister, but this past weekend, my sister and I made an excursion there to check out the Sunday service. We were late, but didn't miss but the first 5/10 minutes or so. Turns out that that Sunday was the day they were celebrating a decade of being an Open and Affirming Congregation for the GLBT community--coincidence 2.

Coincidence 3 was the sermon. The sermon was given by one of their student ministers (going into the ministry). He was very passionate about his message, but what struck me was what he was actually saying. His sermon was hitting me as being nearly word-for-word from McLaren's Secret Message.

So, what do I think all of this means? I don't know. Do I think that these coincidences happened by chance? Not really. I do know that I want to go back to Pilgrimage and see more of what they are about. I also know that this Sunday was a huge step for me, considering it has been over 4 (almost 5) years since I had stepped foot in a Christian church service.

I look forward to sharing more about all of this and more as things unfold, and welcome any comments anyone may have.