WHY ARE SOME PEOPLE NOT INCLUDED (By Patrick Burk)

I can hear it now…oh BOY!!! Here he is again. First he subjects us to his “hyper teen church” attendance, in an attempt to find himself, in his first entry and now he is going to assault us with more of his CRAZY thinking. Guess what? You are right. Now most of what I profess is really only my beliefs. I guess you, the reader can take it or leave it. Some will take and some will not and as my Dad used to say…take all the advice you can get, you may use some of it and you may not use it at all…but it is free and you won’t know if it is useful unless you take it. So here goes.

It has always intrigued me that there is a kind of double standard in some areas of Fundamental Christian thinking. Like my friends – they shall remain nameless so that only I get the feedback. For years they attended a church as regular as the sun rises every Sunday and for years they decided that they really felt like they belonged. One day, a new young minister came to their church and started talking about “living in sin”. Now his intent was to let all know that only man and woman can live together in the “union of God” as husband and wife. IF no marriage has taken place, well then you really were not truly a Christian. This really took them back since they had lived together for 17 years and spent a lot of that time working and helping at church activities. It became apparent that the new direction of the “new” minister did not allow them to feel comfortable with their own prescribed living arrangements. In fact, they were asked over and over again about their arrangement and soon came the pressure to be married.

Feeling that they were being compromised, they left their church of many years and started shopping for a new one. One thing led to another and soon the realization was that NO church doctrine fit their lifestyle. It seemed that living and loving together without a signed contract with some town or city official for some reason negated them from enjoying fulfillment in a church. In their eyes they were together with God. How sorry they felt when minister after minister asked them over and over again about marital status and “encouraged” them to take that step and sign the papers. Two good people, who WORKED hard for their church, set aside because another person, not GOD, but another person felt that their commitment to each other had to be done in a single way. The “churches” way. I thought that sad as well. They chose to stay home on Sundays and work in their garden.

Then there is another friend who was told after his congregation found out that he was gay that he was welcome to stay at the church but it was awkward explaining when he attended with his partner. He was counseled to have his partner attend somewhere else. It would be easier on them because his fellow church members always were talking about him and his “friend”. Once again there is nothing quite as nasty as righteous gossip by those that are free of sin. So where do the Fundamentalist think gay people should go to church? Perhaps the “ship them all to an island alone” mentality really needs to be looked at. It seems strange that my friend’s value as a member stayed intact as long as his partner was not with him. They still liked his weekly and annual donations, they still wanted him to work with the others in taking care of the property and attending all the special functions and they still wanted him to belong, but under their rules of acceptance. No one person has the right to tell another what “life style” is correct for church attendance. No one doctrine holds the moral high road on this issue.

In fact, I really do think that if Christ walked amongst us today he would be sickened by the sense of exclusion that has permeated some areas of Christian Churches. Do we really feel that Christ would not approach anyone with a kind and caring nature? How can we believe that God does not look at all people with caring and compassion? I can tell you one thing, those that denounce others because of life style and do so reciting the word of God really should look in the mirror. Righteousness based on exclusion is not the way of Christ. Kind and caring Christians know that. As a Dad and Grandfather, I hope more and more Christians take the road of acceptance and kindness and not the too often taken road of Christian rhetoric of exclusion. For my kids and grandkids I hope for a better, loving world. I think Christ likes it that way.

NEXT TIME – Why some people feel like they don’t belong?

GOING TO CHURCH…MY EARLY YEARS (By Patrick Burk)

Sometimes it makes me wonder if an opportunity can be put it in the blessing category. My most recent situation is the inclusion on this blog. One really does not know what the effect and outcome will be after all. It is sure to anger some and enlighten others and of course they are sure to let me know. My reasons for inclusion are quite clear. I just happen to think a lot of Paul Peterson… he is a learned individual that I have the privilege to call my friend. Now, we do not always think alike, but one thing that we have agreed on is a simple basic question, “Why do some people go to church and others won’t?”

Well that is a loaded question. I am NOT a church person. I attend for special events, weddings, baptisms and the like, but I do not belong nor do I practice any one prescribed faith. I consider myself quite spiritual, but for some reason, there is not a church or faith that does it all for me. I have “shopped” for faith. I have looked at different religious philosophies and have tried to see if I can swear to it all. I have even made sure that I have read up on the faith of friends. In the era that I was raised, we were Catholic. Catholic schools for my siblings, Catholic Mass at least once a week and Catholic “Holy Days of Obligation”….the last did not really excite me. I thought it was obligatory to be holy every day. I did not quite get the message. I also did not believe in the magic of Sunday. I thought it would be cool if we rotated days that we went to church, I even went to different churches. During my High School Years I could sing at the Second Baptist Church at 8:30AM, sing at St. Columba’s Catholic Church at 10AM and go up the street to the 1^st Presbyterian Church at 11:30AM. Three churches, three choirs, three robes and all on ONE Sunday.

During that period, many questions popped up in my head. I was trying to find out where I was the most connected. Did I like the inclusion of the old spirituals at the Baptist Church or the majesty of the Catholic Mass or the simple structure of the Presbyterians? The Free Methodists were involved in the freedom of slaves and abolition in their early days, I was a devout civil rights believer so that was of special interest to me. Did I believe that I may be closer to obtaining heaven, you know paving more points of access to heaven just in case one religion was more important than the other in the eyes of God? I also remember family members telling me that I was in violation of the Catholic Church for going into another faith’s church building. The premise here was that only Catholic Churches housed God? For all those other faiths it must have been such a waste of bricks, mortar and lumber, did they realize their waste? But I digress. I realized that the buildings and the “houses of worship” did not matter.

It soon became apparent with the help of a kindly neighbor what my beliefs truly reflected. He was an elderly man that lived down the street and I asked him if he went to church. For a kid at the time it seemed like the wrong question….he had a very long answer. He told me that the trees outside his house were his church. He found it tedious to be in one faith, one belief system and one building. He liked praying outside. He liked seeing the creations of God not the buildings that were created to impress or inspire. He also felt that God was closer somehow in the “temple of trees” he created.

This was a wonderful realization. I found that I could not find the answer in one church building that represented one faith, or in one doctrine. I did know that what God created was at once more important than any Cathedral or white washed country church ever could be. I also knew that the universe would not nor could not dictate to me what to believe. I had to find my own temple of trees.

NEXT TIME – Why are some people not included????

Starting tomorrow my friend Pat Burk is going to be sharing a different perspective on  church.

You’re going to want to read these posts!

It will help you to see church through a new set of eyes!

His first post will give you some insight into who he is and some context for his perspective on church.

This is going to be a learning experience for all of us!