Unlike Barbara Brown Taylor, I am returning to church. Today was my first day back (at least officially) after maternity leave. Two wonderful kids gave me the most beautiful cards - one for me and one for Maya - that made me feel so welcome.
In some ways, not much has changed about St. Aidan's. The place looks the same and of course, being the Episcopal Church, the liturgy is just where I left it. But it some ways, things do seem different. There are some new faces -- people that have come to check out St. Aidan's while I've been gone and stuck around. I look forward to learning their names and getting to know them. And there are the people that I know well whose lives have changed since I've been gone. Maybe because a child is about to graduate from high school or because a parent has gotten ill. I look forward to being back among these people that I have come to know and love and finding out about their lives again.
Sometimes I hear people talk about how they prefer to conduct their spirituality outside of a religious institution. How they don't need a church to have God. And of course, that is absolutely true. God is there for each of us no matter where we look and being in a dedicated building with a cross and lighted candles isn't necessary to find God. And yet, having spent the majority of these last 12 weeks floating around different churches and even (gasp!) sometimes going to no church at all, I have a renewed sense of the importance of gathering to worship on a regular basis among a community that knows me. When we sing a hymn, I can pick out the voices of the people around me. When we say the Prayers of the People, I can think of the needs I know of the people gathered there and of the people missing. When we gather around the table for communion, I look at the faces (eyes closed, faces reverent, smiling, unsure, sad, worried - however they might come) and see the people that have become my family. At coffee hour, I connect with the people that have fed us and cared for us while we've been readjusting to life with our expanded numbers. It is good to be back!
Sometimes I hear people talk about how they prefer to conduct their spirituality outside of a religious institution. How they don't need a church to have God. And of course, that is absolutely true. God is there for each of us no matter where we look and being in a dedicated building with a cross and lighted candles isn't necessary to find God. And yet, having spent the majority of these last 12 weeks floating around different churches and even (gasp!) sometimes going to no church at all, I have a renewed sense of the importance of gathering to worship on a regular basis among a community that knows me. When we sing a hymn, I can pick out the voices of the people around me. When we say the Prayers of the People, I can think of the needs I know of the people gathered there and of the people missing. When we gather around the table for communion, I look at the faces (eyes closed, faces reverent, smiling, unsure, sad, worried - however they might come) and see the people that have become my family. At coffee hour, I connect with the people that have fed us and cared for us while we've been readjusting to life with our expanded numbers. It is good to be back!
Love those cards. You ARE so cool and I know St. A's is glad to have you back!
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