Day 252 - The Real Church

So, I had a conversation with a person I just met and a person I’ve seen twice before in life, and it was an incredible space.  We talked about theology and church and people, and I was blessed to share my thoughts and views with people who were open and of like spirit.  All of us have chosen the path of Christianity as our way of life, but we talked about being open to talk to people of other faiths and sharing with people of common spirits.  Yet, we were able to talk openly about our differing beliefs even within the scope of Christianity, and there was no judgment or banishment to hell.  There was simply conversation about God, which is always the uniting factor among people of faith.

What I came to realize as we talked was that the common denominator for every person (aside from the fact that we are all humans) is that basic divine spark which has love as its base.  It doesn’t matter your age, religion, race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, economic status, or anything else – we are all connected by love.  The problem comes in when we allow the lack of love in our lives and environments affect how we see ourselves and other people.  It is true that life can be hard and painful, and the things in life do shape the way we think and feel, but that doesn’t have to determine how we live and love other people. 

And the title of this entry deals with the question of religious separation.  With the particularities of doctrine just within the Baptist sect of the Protestant tradition of the Christian faith, it’s hard to realize sometimes that we are all talking about the same God and Jesus.  And Heaven forbid we talk to someone of a different religion and get some of their “false religion” mixing with our “truth.”

At the end of the day, we are all people who are connected by love.  If you are open to the love within yourself, you ought to be able to feel and connect to the love in others.  Be open to conversations and fellowship with people who aren’t exactly the same as you.  You might learn something, teach something, or even gain a friend.  And the healing that can be shared may change your life, even if your doctrines are matching.  God is too big for one religion anyway.  And when we can relate and fellowship, openly sharing as God intended, then we become the true church, more than any building or institution or organization can ever be.