Skip to main content

Church Tourism

I talked with someone a while ago about how I like to visit churches. There's even a post or two below about the careful processes behind it. I don't consider myself a church tourist, of course, because the implication behind that phrase is a disinclination to attach oneself to a given church. And I am far from disinclined. I am eager for the Church I will call Home. I think I have such a one in Long Beach, but I know that I am hesitant there. Not because of theological disagreements, although I know I have a few. Not because of the people or the preaching or even the largeness of the space. If anything were to deter me, it would certainly be the presence of a coffeeshop on the church grounds - but strangely, that's not it either. It's the general feeling of nomadism that I still have. I will settle in a church when I settle in myself. But I am still unsettled.

One of my favorite bloggers just posted about her own church 'tourism', and I was delighted to read it. I am always delighted to read about good experiences in the Orthodox church, because I have a not-so hidden love for them. They are still my least familiar of the churches (I have only once attended an Orthodox service), but perhaps for that reason, I have this sneaking suspicion I will be Orthodox one day. I may be sixty years old when it happens. I may never officially 'convert'. But I associate it with all the possibilities of resting after restlessness. Perhaps, perhaps....

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Can someone please explain why my Quicktime isn't working? Anyone with prophetic awareness of my little Atlas, none so old but recently behaving so?
8 comments
Read more
because you were all wondering what I'm writing my dissertation on, here's a brief synopsis of my 'research context': When James Macpherson published his Fragments of Ancient Poetry in 1760, he went to great lengths to make the Fragments appear to be authentic remains of an ancient, heroic oral tradition. His reasons for this were largely political, and as such, influenced the content of the epics themselves. As an attempt to establish a particularly Scottish identity, the poems were quite effective. However, to do so required both a simplification and a manipulation of traditional mythology. Stripped of anagogical significance, the Ossian epics more or less represented an Enlightenment version of history, tradition, and mythic heritage. The stories themselves were changed by their very purpose and in turn changed the manner of representing myth in future narratives. Moreover, the emphasis on the Ossian epics as authentic tales from the past, as ‘fragments,’ served...
6 comments
Read more
I just finished Shiver , by Maggie Stiefvater, the other day. From the first few chapters, I had every reason to expect this book to rival the other dark-teen-romance novels recently released (you know which ones I mean). And in a way, it did. There was nothing obnoxious about this book. The characters were mostly believable and endearing. The story was subtle and simple. Maybe a little too simple. At times, maybe a little too subtle. The best chapters were the ones from Sam's point of view, when he's a wolf. That doesn't take up a whole lot of the story, unfortunately. I mean, it would seriously hamper the progression of the plot if he was a wolf for much more of the time, but the writing was still at its best then. Perhaps because it seemed that the poetic, lyrical passages were justified. I like Rilke just fine, and I know plenty of people who compose song lyrics in their heads, but Sam as a human was just maybe a little too emo for me. It could just be that I'm almo...
3 comments
Read more