MY SPIRITUAL JOURNEY and the CHURCH

FURTHER STILL
God takes us further still.
 Our beliefs inform our actions. Beliefs evolve as well. A decade ago my faith journey was shaken and shaped by unexpected events that initiated my search across the church divide. 

I found what I wasn't looking for, and I began to see why we hold fast to Christ alone as our true truth. As I turned my gaze on Christ, He began to show me what I had not seen before because I had blinders on and had some mistaken beliefs.

FORWARD HO
God says to follow Him.
In 2009 the Lord was guiding me to another level of spiritual understanding. Holy Week took on greater significance as I attended my first Maundy Thursday service and my first Stations of the Cross at a liturgical church and later, in 2014, at a Trappist monastery. 

My beliefs were birthed in traditional Evangelical Protestantism but have found a measure of community with other faith groups that follow Christ as the head of the church and believe in Christ for salvation. We are one in Christ, one at the cross of Christ, and one as beloved children of God.

WHERE TO
God says to love one another.
Christianity is represented in three predominant groups: Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant. Within those three groups are a myriad of branches, each with their own strong church biblically-based doctrines which link to their Christian theology, based on interpretation of the Hebrew and Greek of the sacred text. The Christian fold, um, family, has too much in-fighting and dysfunction, and has in some ways lost its first love. Christ is the answer.

Though that is a rather simplistic statement--it is much more complicated than I have stated--it somewhat explains the broad tent of Christianity. According to the Word, unity is found in Christ. We in the Church are to follow Christ, first and foremost. To do that we must follow the teachings in the Word of God. Other sorts of beliefs aren't rooted in biblical teachings. We must look to Christ. 

What I found that I wasn't looking for is people of God and historic writers not of the Protestant tradition that love God with the same fervor as I do. And that makes Easter extra special. I can celebrate Christ's resurrection with them and with my church tradition. 

Hallelujah! Christ has risen. He is alive!

*Photo by Tony McLachlan on Unsplash