{"id":884,"date":"2009-08-11T11:12:00","date_gmt":"2009-08-11T11:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2009\/08\/how-to-deal-with-your-local-religious-institution\/"},"modified":"2011-11-01T15:09:27","modified_gmt":"2011-11-01T19:09:27","slug":"how-to-deal-with-your-local-religious-institution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2009\/08\/how-to-deal-with-your-local-religious-institution.html","title":{"rendered":"How to Deal With Your Local Religious Institution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I found the following on the web. I largely agree with it, although there is something about our sacred institutions that are a bit more lively than I feel it suggests. Still, a good reflection and worth sharing\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

I think of religious institutions as government bureaucracies. They\u2019re like the postal service. The are usually big, full of all sorts of annoying people, rather stuck in their ways, and if you work there you may be required to wear a funny hat. You may not like dealing with the postal service but it only exists for one function, delivering your package, and it almost always works despite itself. Religious institutions, all human institutions, are essentially like this. Use the post office to mail your package, it\u2019s good for that, but please do not loiter. You are not there for the post office experience.

Renegade Buddha<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

I think the complexity lies in the fact the experience sometimes is the package, the institution, flawed as it is, and sometimes terribly so, is the deal\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

And besides you meet such interesting people\u2026<\/p>\n