Friday, February 22, 2013

Flashback.

For those who were readers back during my journey of faith, you'll know that I was in the process of researching (literally, I spent some time in the library folks!) a new spiritual home when I found out I was pregnant with Ava. For those who are newer readers since then (and that was a whiiiiile ago, so that is likely 99% of you!), here's a brief summary of my journey:

I was raised Mormon. I've talked about this in the past, and let me make this disclaimer now, before we get any further: To each their own. Live and let live. These are things I believe in. I've no plans to sit here and trash the LDS religion, only to say that for me, since I was old enough to ask questions, I have known that the Mormon faith was not a good fit. Politically, ideologically, and then some, it was not the church for me. I've known plenty of amazing, kind, and Christ-like Mormons, though, so if you feel compelled to badmouth them in the comments, please refrain. Thanks.

Now that I've said that, let's get started, shall we? Despite my misgivings about being raised Mormon, it is terribly difficult to walk away from a faith and ideas that have been told to you as a child, and so rather than actively searching for a better fit, I just stopped going. I've never stopped believing - I have a firm foundation and faith in God. But I had no spiritual home, no place I could go to feel the love and be renewed in Christ. So, off I went. I hit the library for books on many a religion. Some I crossed off my list immediately, others I researched in depth. In the end, I narrowed it down to three that fit with my thoughts about life, love, and - importantly to me - equality and human rights, and then visited those churches over the course of several Sundays each.

In the midst of this journey, I found out I was "unexpectedly expecting". My world was turned on its side. I felt a range of emotions previously unimaginable to me, and was in the most difficult, darkest time of my life. I had a big decision to make, and it would - no matter what I chose - come to be the most important decision of my life, as well as the hardest.

On Mother's Day, 2009, I walked into a local Episcopal church. I was struggling with the content of the day as I thought long and hard about whether or not I would actively be a mother when the next Mother's Day came around, when an usher walked up to me with flowers and asked, "Are you a mother?" It was their custom to give a rose to the mothers in the church on Mother's Day, but yet this gesture felt as if it was for me alone. Not knowing what to say, I excused myself, and sobbed in the bathroom until I could piece myself back together and go back in.

Flash forward nearly four years, and I found myself back in church a few weeks back, sitting across from the bench where he asked that fateful question so many Sundays ago. I'm not saying that I would have come to a different decision ultimately without having found my way to the church that day, but I can say that when I left the service that Sunday, without my rose, I felt resolved and peaceful in a way that I had not felt since those two pink lines appeared.

I would get a rose the next year. In fact, before I got that rose, both myself and my daughter would be baptized into the Episcopalian faith, just feet from where that exchange took place.

Now, when I walk into services - something I've resolved to do more of now that a new Rector has come in and replaced one that left our congregation feeling as though something was "missing" - I know that I am home. I know that I'm in the right place. I know when I walk in and see a female Rector talking about the gospel, when I sit next to an openly gay couple and their foster children, when the woman ahead of me wears traditional African garb to services - none of which would be accepted or allowed in the faith I was raised in. I am proud to send these messages to Ava. I am proud that she will be raised in a spiritual home that cultivates the idea that she is worthy of holding any office in the church, even if she marries (we can all hope that marriage equality will be unanimous when that time comes, right?) a woman.

If I've gone off on too far a tangent, I apologize. I rarely speak of faith or Christ in great detail. But I do speak about love, and equality, and hope in great detail, and aren't they the same when it comes down to it?

"Wherever you are in your journey of faith, you are welcome at this table."

15 comments:

  1. I'm relatively new to your blog and read this post very closely - I was raised in a very strict and exclusive church myself, and knew early on it wasn't for me. Like you, I walked away. I think a good church community should instill good values and provide support for all, rather than rigid rules and fear. Now that my husband and I are expecting a baby in July, I would love to find a welcoming {i.e., liberal} church in our new city. The hitch is that my husband is not at all religious and isn't crazy about the idea. Was yours on board?

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    1. Hi there, and welcome! So glad to have you reading along!

      I left my husband out of the post not so much purposely, but because it really ended up being my own journey. He was raised Catholic, though to the point that the entire idea of it puts him off, and our fundamental beliefs (ie. basically we both believe in God and want Ava to have that foundation as well) are enough to where I embarked upon this journey alone, knowing that it was only me that felt a deep-seated need to leave my church and realign myself.

      That being said, he definitely didn't harbor any negative feelings about it - moreso, he just didn't feel the need to be drug from church to church for months on end, especially when what I'm looking for is not necessarily what he'd be looking for. Anyhow, long, unnecessarily drawn-out story short (ha - sorry!), he wasn't a factor. And while he goes with us for things like Easter, etc, that we do as a family, he doesn't attend with us on a regular basis. I assumed the role of spiritual educator even before A was born, and he was always on board with that idea.

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  3. (Sorry I deleted my previous comment. It had some weird grammar in it that needed to be corrected.)

    Thank you for sharing your experience in finding your spiritual home. And thank you for making this a happy and positive post. I am a Mormon. I am also a feminist, and I can understand why the current practices and policies of the faith may cause people to seek other faiths in which to worship God.

    When leaving the teachings of your childhood did you find it difficult to transition from the fundamental Mormon doctrines which are often different from that of your newfound Christian faith? (e.g. Godhead to Trinity, Premortality to no prior existance before birth).

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    1. Janell,

      Thanks so much for commenting, and for reading. I also sincerely hope that nothing I said about the Mormon faith was offensive or off-putting - I certainly meant it when I said that I harbor no ill feelings about the church, just that it wasn't for me personally :)

      I thought I would have a difficult time walking away, and while there are some things that I have yet to let go of and likely never will (I still sing 'I am a child of God' and 'We thank thee O Lord for a Prophet' to Ava nightly), the doctrine was surprisingly easy for me to transition to. That being said, my parents were what we affectionately refer to as "Jack Mormons", and so while I went to church on and off as a child with friends, and sometimes my family, we didn't exactly follow the Word of Wisdom to a tee. Long story short, I've known for a long time my heart and soul belonged elsewhere, and so I stopped taking in doctrine when I was a young teenager. That definitely made it easier for me, as did the research I did beforehand. And some things I just flat out did not believe, so doctrine was actually something I was looking to have some major differences in.

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  4. Thank you for sharing such a private part of your life with us. I imagine it will give great comfort and hope to those who are struggling with their faith.

    I, too, share your positivity about the Episcopalian Church and it is where I feel most comfortable given that my husband doesn't share the same Christian faith.

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    1. Thank you so much for those kind words. My husband was raised Catholic and is more a passive, better-the-devil-you-know type of guy, so A and I tend to go alone. Yet another reason why I appreciate their open-mindedness - I'm pretty sure most of them that don't know me well or haven't been there on Easter - when he attends with us - think I'm a single mother. Ha!

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  5. And I rarely respond to journeys of faith - but yours is compelling to me. I'm a reasonably new reader, and a lurker. Disclaimer - I'm agnostic. Nonetheless, your journey to God is beautiful to me. Have you read any Anne Lamott (whose name I never spell right)? She's one of my favorite writers, and outspoken Christian woman who brilliantly expresses her own open mind without ever cramming her beliefs down the reader's throat. Your piece here has the same feel to me as some of her most powerful writing, especially in Traveling Mercies.

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    1. Thank you so, so very much for your comment. First, I'm glad to have you reading and lurking! And second, that's such a compliment! I am not familiar with that author, but will definitely be taking a look at some of her stuff, particularly Traveling Mercies. Thank you for the recommendation!

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  6. Thank you for sharing! This is something new that I learned about you, and I celebrate you and all of your wisdom. You are insightful and true. Hugs!

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  7. Sharing your faith and the journey that brought you there is the most generous thing you can do -- thank you so much for sharing yourself in this way!

    ((HUGS))
    Traci

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  8. Hi! I'm not quite sure how I stumbled across your blog today. I'm expecting at 19 weeks, so the title caught my eye. This post reeeally caught my attention-- especially when you wrote: "Despite my misgivings about being raised Mormon, it is terribly difficult to walk away from a faith and ideas that have been told to you as a child, and so rather than actively searching for a better fit, I just stopped going. I've never stopped believing - I have a firm foundation and faith in God. But I had no spiritual home, no place I could go to feel the love and be renewed in Christ."

    I'm also 28 and grew up in the Mormon church as a child-- for many reasons I stopped attending when I was about 15. My parents went through a divorce, and we had stopped attending church. On my Mom's side, they are Mormon (my great grandmother was a missionary). My Dad was excommunicated, married my stepmom/Mom who is Catholic, and I have stepbrothers and stepsisters (not that we use the term "step") who are Baptist. I was pretty lost in party mode during my teenage/high school years-- that's about the time I met my husband. We crossed paths with some positive Christian folks who were happily married (we hadn't really seen good examples of HAPPILY married people, both come from divorced families) and started our "journey of faith". We found a non-denominational Christian church we've felt at home at. That was about 8 years ago... we about to celebrate 8 happy years of marriage and are expecting out 1st child. Last fall I started reading up on the differences between Mormon doctrine and what I believe now-- much of what I learned was as a child, so it wasn't everything (I'm sure that probably makes sense to you). So anyways... I just wanted to reach out to you and let you know you're not alone out there/ we are the same age with a similar background! I have sung "A Child's Prayer" in my car by myself a couple times, it's a catchy song, lol.

    Thanks for sharing your testimony! ;)
    Tara
    tarashannonmiller@gmail.com

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    1. Thank you so much for commenting - it is extremely refreshing to know I am not alone in my twenty-something journey to find a good fit when raised in a church that wasn't the best fit for me. It's even more interesting that we're the same age with similar backgrounds. I was raised in California, even though I consider myself a Texas through and through (I've been here since 13). My parents also divorced, though it was my mom and stepdad - my mom and dad never married because they were young and I was an "unexpected" baby myself!

      Congratulations on expecting your first baby! What a wonderful and exciting time. I'm so happy you found a church home that fits for you and that you have that support during this time - pregnancy, though wonderful blah blah, is really, really hard. REALLY hard. My church helped me immensely through prayers for me and the baby alone, and I was so grateful for that support!

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    2. I was logged into my wrong account for commenting back, but it was me :)

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  9. Cool, my husband was raised in California. I was born in Hawaii (military brat) and was raised primarily in San Antonio. We moved to Austin when I was 13. What a hard time to switch schools, girls that age are so mean! lol.

    Thanks for the congratulations! This pregnancy has definitely had those "Lord help me" moments-- excited for what the future holds. :)

    Have a beautiful day/weekend! :)
    Tara

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