Coming alive

It is a relief to attend...


... and the anticipation after a week away waiting to reconnect is painfully exquisite.  Almost as if waiting to see a lover, I feel a sense of excitement tinged with fear that I may be disappointed.  I may have built this up to be bigger than it is. This may just be my longing for real community. This may just be my longing for depth. My longing to fill my hungry soul.


For it is not just a relief to attend but also a relief to be faced with a completely different set of questions.  I do not need to believe in words written two or three thousand years ago.  I can if I want but I don't have to. I don't have to believe that some thing created the universe or even believe that it was created.  I don't have to believe that some people are doomed to hell and others will spend eternity with the angels.  These are not the issues that our religion focuses on.


Our religion asks us to be authentically us - we have to answer this request as best as we can.  We are then asked to be in right relationship with those who share our spiritual space and time.  We are called to be good people, whatever we believe about the divine, in whatever situation we find ourselves in.  We are called to be and called to act.


This call is like the call of a lover.  It is the belief that this relationship will be the one that makes us come alive.