God stuff is important to me. I’m one of those folks born with a religious temperament. At the same time, I am blessed with the ability to separate the being we call God from what the “church” says and does. The two entities are NOT one and the same. That being said, it is my continual prayer that I never cause anyone to feel condemned or belittled because of their belief or lack of belief. I have atheist, agnostic, Buddhist, Pagan, Wiccan friends.  If God is small enough for any of us to hold or have in hand, I want no part of that god.

I was raised in a Christian tradition, and though I began to lean towards Buddhism I cannot give up my belief. It’s too much a part of me. Because of this, I often write about God and have reflections on God as experienced through my Christian tradition.  I also wanted to give those who come to my website the opportunity to pick a tab about my faith if they wanted or to ignore. By doing this, it is my way of attempting to respect those who are too hurt or angry at Christians to read these particular things. This does not mean I wish to avoid such conversations, only that I want the reader to choose.

Always, the most important thing for me is to remind you of the joy in life. For me, that joy is enlarged by my faith. When my faith falters, then I search for more faith. Because of that, my readings have broadened to include many faith traditions. God is larger than our imagination, larger than humanity. I’ve tried to give up on faith in my life, but faith has never given up on me. That sounds weird, but it’s the only way to express the truth that I’ve experienced in my life.    

I love teaching. In Sylva, we started a class called God in the World. In the class we talked about how faith and world events intersect or not. We also discussed how that impacts our choices as a person of faith. This discussion arose out of a thought provoking quote by the theologian, Karl Barth.

 

“Take your Bible and take your newspaper, and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible.”

~ Karl Barth

As with any questions or thoughts on my website, if you would like to talk, please contact me. I will do my best to respond within 48 hours during the week.