Musings on Sunday

So my husband asked me today, as we passed a full church parking lot, why I thought people attended church. He asked this because we happened to be stopped at a light, and listened as a goateed guy raised his voice at a woman, telling her that he didn't want the little boy playing with an alien blow-up toy to pop it or hit the other little boy with it. 

My immediate answer was, "I think people attend church so that they can feel better about themselves since they're generally shitty on the inside." He said he thinks people go to church to network. I allowed him that, citing the example of a big Baptist church on the "rich" side of town where a lot of well-known/semi-famous people go. 

I also said that there are people who honestly get something out of going to church, who center their lives on believing in God. Those people I admire. I admire someone who lives their life according to their principals, who lives the "Christian life" as well as they can.

I think churches are beautiful, especially Catholic and Episcopal churches. I would like to visit the great cathedrals and chapels in Europe one day. My parents recently took a trip to

Canterbury Cathedral

England and were lucky enough to attend a service at Canterbury Cathedral. When my father was telling the story, he had tears in his eyes. He's the most religious man I know, and he lives his life according to his beliefs. This doesn't mean that he's never snarky or mean, because he is; and he's not in church on every Sunday. I like to think that when he's out in the yard, feeding the birds, planting seedlings, spreading compost, or simply walking around, he's in his own church. He finds God in nature and in that respect, he and I are not all that different.

Kwan Yin

In class this semester, we've talked about Emerson, Whitman, and Stevens, who shared the common belief that religion, and God for that matter, didn't exist in the traditional way. He could be found in nature, in the earth, and in all of us. And while I don't call my belief "God," I do believe the divine is found in nature. I'm more comfortable with the idea of divinity as many beings--gods and goddesses. When I'm not feeling well, I send a few words out into the universe to Kwan Yin, my patroness. I think that positive energy and thoughts return the fastest to you and in ten-fold. I think, if you're into labels, that this is called "eclectic" in the pagan community.

Sometimes I wish I could have a circle of like-minded people here, but I'm not into celebrating the sabbats and other holy days. My path is a solitary one and it's comforting to me.

Right now I can hear the birds singing outside. They're enjoying the seed my husband put out for them yesterday. There are chickadees, cardinals, Carolina wrens and squirrels in the yard. That to me is the god and goddess made real. Just two steps outside my door.