why I love the church

Since some people take a superficial reading of what I do on this blog and conclude I hate the church, I thought I would write a short post on the many things I am thankful to the church for:

1. Even though I’ve made countless enemies, and continue to do so, I have made some very good life-long friends.
2. Even though the system’s gravitational pull is towards the dehumanization of its members, I have seen moments of heroic advocacy on behalf of its members.
3. Even though I have shed oceans of bitter and painful tears because of the church, my happiest moments were also within her embrace.
4. Even though the church can display a shocking level of greed, I have witnessed the church display incredible generosity.
5. Even though my personal experience with pastoral oversight has been extremely abusive and consistently disappointing, I have seen a few genuine pastors at work.
6. Even though the box the church has pressured me to think within has gotten predictably smaller, I’ve also enjoyed profound intellectual stimulation from certain theologians and ex-cathedra philosophers read by such theologians.
7. Even though my children find it impossible to find a church home or even find the thought of looking for one repugnant, I am thankful that the church obviously helped shape their depth of character.
8. Even though I found the church’s idea of spirituality extremely constrictive and it’s view of the Other restrictive, it was also within the church that my curiosity of these matters was aroused.
9. Even though I find the church can be the perfect culture for division, animosity, competition, deceit, alienation and discord, I have also experienced it to be a powerful vehicle for the realization, manifestation and application of unity.
10. Even though I discovered that the weekly meetings were a prime place for schismatic people to sow their seeds of divisiveness, it was also the perfect place for people who cared about fellowship and community to exercise their love and network with their neighbors in constructive ways.

These are just some of the reasons I love the church.

I’m offering my services for pastoral counseling, spiritual direction, dream work, etc… Email me and we can arrange it: haywardart at gmail dot com (read more…)