I've been really struggling with my church over the past months and years, to the point where at times I have wished I could be an atheist -- but I can't. God is just a part of my life, nothing I can do about it, really. And God and I are good... my problem is that the people in charge of my church have made a lot of decisions lately that I vehemently disagree with -- to the point where I have actually cried through Sunday Mass a couple of times. It's really painful to go to church at all right now; in fact, I've missed the past two weeks due to illness, and staying home was a relief in many ways. But today I will go, because I know "who to thank for it all," and because there's just something about giving thanks with my community... many of whom feel the way I do about recent changes. We can cheer each other on in our struggles, at least, and be grateful together.
Following this theme, my friend Charleen has done it again... sent me a wonderful Sunday video. It's worth viewing just for the time lapsed photography... but the gratitude part of it is perfect for a Sunday, too. Enjoy!
4 comments:
Aww I'm sorry you're struggling with your church Maria:( I know how difficult these things can be.
It's funny, there are times when I wish I could believe in God,lol, then all my questions about what happens when we die would be all taken care of..but I can't. I have tried and it's just not what I believe or feel in my spirit.
I tend to say I'm a Humanist with Buddhist leanings and gratitude is HUGE for me. I give thanks every day for the new morning I wake up into.I don't feel the need to give the thanks to anyone or anything in particular. I just send them out there. It really helps me enjoy everything in life,good and bad. I'm really working hard on appreciating the bad!
"If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is 'thank you', that would suffice." - Meister Eckhart
I, too, am very sorry to hear that you are suffering under the leadership of your church. I am in the same boat. I have had the good fortune to find a parish and a priest where the essentials are ever kept in mind. The horrid new English Translations in our church make me ill. It is supposed to be a more elevated language, but in my view it is soulless, colourless and stilted language. It certainly does not lift up my heart to gratitude. A priest friend of mine loves to remind me: gather the folks, tell the stories and break the bread. Each of them is an act of gratidude in and of themselves: for the people who share life with us; for the stories of God and stories of faith that inspire and uphold our lives; and for the things we share to nourish life.
Thanks for your comments, all. Anonymous, that's exactly my struggle... the new translation is inaccessible, exclusive, stilted and stuffy. And it's hard to pray that way when I'm one for simplicity in all things. It drives me crazy that suddenly God is being held at arms length when all my life S/he has been closer than my breath. I just don't understand why the new translation has to be faithful to a dead language! God is alive! But this is killing my enthusiasm.
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