So Becca and I had a full day planned ahead of us this Sunday, so we thought we would catch an early service. With the help of three alarm clocks we managed to get up, get ready, and make it to the Hope Lutheran Church on the south side of town before 8:30. We arrived to a group of mostly seniors, all mingling in the lobby. The pastor was very friendly to us and shook our hands then asked us for our names, all before handing us a laminated sheet outlining the events. An elderly man, who eventually read out the scriptures for the service, told us we must sit in the first row and that there would be no one sitting near the back. Becca and I were a bit apprehensive, and entered the sanctuary and sat beside some elderly women. We were handed a programme with the bible verses that were used for the service. After reading some psalms, there was a quiet prayer and then the sermon began. The pastor was not standing behind the podium as one might be used to; instead, he was on the far side of a semicircle of chairs that were formed around the altar. This added to the already very inclusive and comforting mood of the service.
The sermon was very focused on love, and how it relates to spirituality, that god is in the interconnectedness of people. I think I will take this opportunity to outline my beliefs (or lack thereof) as an atheist. I do not believe there is a god, no I cannot prove that there isn’t a god, however I feel as if it is very unlikely. The evidence that is given in holy books, in my opinion is not valid for they were written thousands of years ago by an ancient desert people, and scriptures have been changed throughout history to fit the political and ideological goals of the people in power at the time. This being said, though I am not overly so, I am spiritual to a certain extent and I understand why people feel as though their perception of god is what holds the universe together, and that love is a manifestation of that. I am not an atheist who believes that religion must be destroyed in the name of social and scientific progress. As the pastor talked about love to all people and mankind, even about helping reintegrate sex offenders in to society as an exercise in loving all people, I reassure my belief that some people need religion to justify and to strengthen their sense of humanity.
That being said, I find the assertion that god is loving to be... incongruent. If anyone has ever read the Old Testament, they will know what I mean when I see the god described there hardly...loves. Furthermore how can one say good is merciful and loving when thousands of children are without parents because of an AIDS pandemic that has killed millions? Please do not think that I mean to demonize or frown upon these Lutherans in any way for saying their god loves, it is both a noble and wonderful to have enough faith to share the love of your god with others, and I just find it a wee bit hard to swallow is all. My belief is that one must be honorable and help others whether or not you do it for god, either way the outcome is positive and makes the world a better place.
There was a group discussion, where the congregation spoke a lot about isolation and loneliness. There was talk about the pros and cons of isolation, that occasionally isolation is good to help figure things out for yourself, however this tied in with the sermon about how god is in love between people, and how loneliness can be spiritually draining. I do not think that loneliness can be as much spiritually draining as just draining in general, from an evolutionary stand point this makes sense for human beings are social animals that must stay in groups to survive. Love, in my opinion, is a reward through endorphins that is given to us for fulfilling biological imperatives. This I understand is a very... not poetic and dry way of phrasing things. However I believe strongly that just because something is not supernatural doesn’t mean it lacks beauty. The beautiful uniformity of the universe does not necessarily equal god in my opinion. I think events like the big bang are awe inspiring and beautiful because we don’t fully understand them yet and the shear complexness and enormity of the universe is what I call my version of “spirituality”
Becca and I both had no intentions of taking communion. However... when the time came and the pastor was in front of me with the communion wafer I couldn’t bring myself to turn down his smiley face. When the wine came to Becca, I could tell she was having issues denying him the alcoholic wine so I interjected “Becca can’t drink alcohol” he smiled politely and grabbed some grape juice. Communion is just so sacred to so many, that it didn’t feel appropriate to take it. After that, Our Father was said, Becca and I were okay aside from saying “thy” instead of “your” and fumbling at the last few lines which neither of us had heard before, it might be a continuation of psalm, either way we struggled.
The service was very interesting, and much different from the LDS one I attended last week, the people were welcoming, the sermon and scripture readings were interesting, and it was a different take on Christianity than I had seen before.
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