Doubting like Luther, and trying to test like a Berean, this is where I think aloud about Christian belief and practice. It is also where I share resources of interest to other struggling believers.

Baptized and confirmed in the American Lutheran Church, I explored New Age spirituality for a time but have since worshiped the Trinitarian God of Christianity in many different churches, my denominational preference being Lutheran. I believe in salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. My greatest struggle is prayer. My greatest annoyance is legalism and the notion that blind obedience to the Law will bring sanctification. My greatest fear is that I don't believe correctly. Yet, my greatest hope is that as I grow in my understanding of the grace that God extends to me daily, I will grow in my ability to walk in and demonstrate that grace to others.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

My Faith Timeline

Ocean House Chapel, Watch Hill, RI
Yesterday at lunch, after our noon mid-week Lenten service, the guest pastor shared with us the story of how he came to be in the service of Christ.  He went to college to be a sports coach but couldn't get a job.  His friends who were cops encouraged him to join the police force.  He did and served as a law enforcement officer for twenty years.  Retiring from that position, he worked for the Department of Transportation.  After fifteen years as a transportation official, he heard the call to become a pastor.

Now, I don't know about other people, but I like it when my pastors have had "other lives."  It seems to give them a different perspective on faith than those who have come to the pastoral field straight out of the college-seminary track, a different skill set.  That said, I must admit that my current pastor, who to my knowledge followed the traditional college-seminary-clergy track, has a great bead on life, maybe because he is the father of five talented children, the husband of a gifted wife, and is himself a talented singer/performer.  To illustrate:  one son is an actor who recently had a walk-on extra part in an episode of "The Big Bang Theory;"  Mrs. Pastor just published her second book;  and, just about the time we joined the congregation, Pastor portrayed Jesus in a local production of "Godspell."

All this discussion got me thinking about my own faith timeline:

1962  Baptized in the American Lutheran Church
1975  Confirmed in the American Lutheran Church
1982  Participated in Navigators while at college;  attended an LCMS campus chapel
1985  Married a Catholic in the American Lutheran Church
1985-1990  Stayed away from church.  Not sure why.

1990-2005  Member of an ELCA congregation
While at this church, I taught Sunday School using The Divine Drama.  I also explored New Age Spirituality while my husband was a thyroid cancer patient.  When my daughter was three years old, we started attending Bible Study Fellowship together and continued until she was six.  When she was older, I volunteered occasionally with a local Awana program.

2006-2009  Transferred to an LCMS congregation
During this time, I taught Sunday School for a couple of years.

2009-2011  Attended a PCA church with my daughter while she explored Calvinism
2012  Returned to my LCMS congregation

Now that I am back home, so to speak, and my daughter is learning to be a church organist, I spend a lot of time in area Lutheran churches other than my own.  I also visit churches of other denominations if their congregations are in need of a substitute organist.

So, what is your faith timeline?  Where has your faith journey taken you thus far?
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