Hi everyone:
Hello Brigid:
Thankyou so much for saying such nice things about my post. I can assure you that I don't always say everything in such a way but some days are better than others (depending on brain cell function).
People are flawed and therefore religions will have flaws as well.
This reminds me of a story that happened to me years ago (which I hope won't be boring but will maybe show how my thinking has....evolved).
I moved to a house that was just down the street from the church. I was quite excited to think that I could walk to church! On a nice spring day or a beautiful fall day, or even a crisp winter day, I could walk down the street and be at church (and save the environment by leaving my car at home, and get a bit of excercise to boot!). Bonus!!
So I went, one Sunday. I walked into the little church. I went up the side row of seats and sat near the back. It felt as if almost all heads turned when I walked in and sat down, just a few minutes before mass would start. All through the mass, people kept looking at me, oddly, no smiles, just as if I was from outer space, or like I was some derelect, or misfit, or something.
I tried to focus on the mass but it was hard to ignor what became stares and some...smirky looking glances.
I kept asking myself:
"What are they staring at? What have I done? What's wrong with me?"
At first, I thought it might be because it was a small community and no one knew who I was. But stare?? And smirk? And look me up and down like a low life???
Finally, I realized what the problem was. Every single woman in that church had a dress on and a hat.
I had worn pants and no hat. When I was a kid, women always wore dresses and hats to church but this was the mid-80's and that was way out, from my experience at other churches. Pants, even jeans, were the norm. After all, we were there to pray, not assess our fashion choices.
Anyway, I felt terribly insulted and angry by the people's rudeness. I thought: "What a bunch of hypocrites! I won't be coming back here!"
And I didn't. I drove, from then on, to another church, on the other side of town where...guess what....there were lot's of people in jeans and pants.
The point is......it wasn't until years later that I realized those people were not realy hypocrites. They were just shocked.
Everyone wore dresses and hats to church and there I was
not conforming. I did stick out like a sore thumb. I know, indeed, to be truly Christian, a smile would have gone a long way and have made me feel welcome and accepted and would have been the golden rule way to behave.
But people....in general....have a hard time understanding and excepting those that are different. This is just the way it is and has always been. Maybe, had I gone back, they might have accepted me, in time, or at least, some one might have smiled and looked past the pants and no hatness of me. But I really believe...they were just reacting badly, as we all do, sometimes and this does not represent the total of their behaviour nor their Christianity. It represents their humanness and their difficulty adapting to change....which most of us have at least some trouble with.
Some might have gone away thinking this was a reflection of the Catholic Church but it wasn't. It was an example of a group of people, who all knew eachother, who had been doing the same thing for years and years, and their very human, but not very polite, reaction to someone who looked like a rebel to them. The flaw...was not in the church....but in the people.....who are no less, nor more flawed than any one of us might be...given the correct shock/rebel/sore thumb looking weirdo to deal with.
Anyway....I loved your post too Brigid. I'm glad your idea of God is not all brimstone and fire and wrath. I bet he has a sence of humour! I believe all of that nasty stuff will be reserved for those who truly work to destroy faith, not those who try to keep it or share it or ponder it.
Regardless of demonination or creed.
GFN
