After my case was adjudicated in a juvenile hearing, I was sentenced to do community service. I did some of that service with the person whose house I broke into. I helped her at a soup kitchen in downtown Seattle. Most of the community service was done at KCC however. I was never an outgoing person and never really developed into one, so I didn't have a huge social life at the time. This community service arrangement at my church was very convenient since it meant that I could do the community service very quickly and for a place that I was invested in. At the time I used to clean and setup for a Friday night youth hangout at the church. I would vacuum, and stock the fridge and candy counter. I would put out the sign and basically get everything ready for what was at times 80 or 90 teenagers who would hang out in the basement of a house on church grounds. The purpose of the place was to give kids a place to be where there was adult supervision, fun stuff to do, and no drugs or alcohol. There were opportunities to talk about God and the night usually began with a prayer for the people that helped out. There wasn't a lot of pushing though. We weren't there to tell every teenager about how they needed Jesus or they would burn. For something like 2 years I helped run that hang out. Eventually attendance fizzled and I think they wanted to use the space for something else.
I thought about this today as I spoke to my friend Aaron. I met Aaron something like 9 or 10 years ago when I used to go a coffee house held at Holy Resurrection. I went there with Katrina and it was one of the first encounters I had with Orthodoxy. I remember encountering people that had clearly spent a lot of time thinking about what it meant to be Christian and I found that inviting. I wanted to learn more and it sparked my interest in this Ancient form of my faith. As I spoke with Aaron today I remembered helping setup or teardown some nights at Holy Resurrection's coffee house. Maybe it was just familiar for me to serve in that way. I kinda miss it and I feel a little out of place sometimes when I have nothing to do in a social setting. I went to the Christmas Coffee house held this year at Holy Resurrection. It was definitely cool, but I just felt old and out of place. I wanted to help setup or do something but I got there after most of the work was already done and there were plenty of people already doing stuff. There was also a significantly different tone to the purpose of the event. Maybe it was just that particular coffee house, but I remember the purpose of the old coffee houses were to open the church up to the community. There would be college students, drunks, random people passing by who would stop in, have a free cup of coffee. Some would ask questions, some would look around and leave. The Christmas coffee house seemed more like a performance designed for the OCF audience, not for anyone who wanted to stop by.
Showing posts with label Assemblies of God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Assemblies of God. Show all posts
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Monday, December 17, 2007
First Thought
Today on the train, I was reading a book about the Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church(specifically, the Eastern Orthodox Church). I have really been taking my time reading this book, I checked it out last spring and here it is December and I am only halfway through.
The book is dense and sometimes I need to reread passages, this may have something to do with being translated from Russian. That is not the reason I have been slow to read it though. Really, I have just been putting it off. The book itself amazes me every time I pick it up. I find something that confirms my beliefs about God and humanity whenever I read it. It is really making me more fond of Orthodoxy as a whole.
I was raised in a Presbyterian church, until my parents divorced. Then I don't remember going to services again until I was about 15, well after we had moved to Washington State from Texas. That was the summer after 9th grade. I had broken into a neighbor's house during my 9th grade year and I was eventually caught. The guilt of having done what I did was too great and I confessed when I was brought in to the police station. My "friend" who committed these crimes with me, did his best to not be incriminated. I remember him coming to me in the hall at school and talking about how his dad was going to hire some lawyer and I should just not say anything else to the cops. I don't remember what I said, but I remember feeling like we were already caught, we should just face the consequences of our actions. I was freaking pissed at him for wanting to try to continue to get away with our crime and in reality that was probably where our friendship ended.
Anyway, maybe I was motivated by guilt or maybe I just needed guidance, or maybe I was divinely inspired(who knows, it is possible), but I did seek out a church that summer. My mom and I had recently moved, largely because my mom's boyfriend at that time said something like "I don't want that f'ing thief in my home", and we lived near a few churches. I originally went to the Presbyterian church about two blocks away and tried to talk to some one in the office, I think I scared the woman there to death and I got a bad read off the situation. She couldn't speak English well and my general impression of the place was that it was dead. Not really dead, but empty -- for me at least. At that moment the faith I was raised with was lost to me, and I had to find my own(oh, the drama!!! ;-).
On my way back I walked by a church which I will call by it's acronym, KCC, it was an Assemblies of God church and I will get into what that means at some other time. There was a college student named Chris K. changing the sign and I remember asking to speak to the Reverend(being from the south and going to a Presbyterian church I was not familiar with the term Pastor). He introduced me to the youth pastor at the church, Mark. Mark was friendly, full of energy and had a moment to talk. As a result I felt good about the place and I started going to KCC pretty regularly, at least once a week but more often twice a week.
That was my church all through high school, it was one of the few places I felt like I belonged when I was that age and I felt good being there. If anything it kept me out of a lot of trouble and I think I learned a lot while attending service there.
When I came to Boston for school, I tried attending the AG college group and even tried going to a couple of churches, but they were never right. I always felt like I was not in sync with them and I didn't belong. As a result I stopped going to service. I also started to do a lot of soul searching which along with some other soul scouring events in my life, left me a long way from church, and only marginally on a path leading to God.
My Junior year I dated a girl named Kat. She was "interesting", we have not talked in years and I have plenty of memories both good and bad. I loved her at the time however and I am grateful for at least one thing she gave me. When we were dating she brought me to her church in Allston. It is a Bulgarian Orthodox Church, though there are not many Bulgarians and the service is usually in English. The name of the church is Holy Resurrection and it's website is www.hrocboston.org. I attended services and functions there sporadically for a year or so, until I felt like I should convert or leave. I still felt pretty scarred religiously from the extended time I had taken away from church and I didn't know if I felt right embracing Christianity so fervently again. I had a lot of doubts and let questions and confusion get in the way of me pursuing God. I left the church and lived a while without thinking too much about it.
Recently, I have been wanting to be involved in church again, probably because of my new son. It is funny how having a child makes you want to do things like go to church. Anyway, while my wife was pregnant I reacquainted myself with Holy Resurrection in Allston. I came to realize that many of the issues I had were not actually problems, they were just issues I had with other churches. I also have a different perspective on religion now and I have been working out my issues with the acquisition of knowledge by faith and being able to believe in something despite doubt.
There is my first thought. I will hopefully have many more which may or may not be correct, or interesting. I thought on the train today as I was reading, "if more people stopped and thought about God, maybe they wouldn't have time to fight in His name".
The book is dense and sometimes I need to reread passages, this may have something to do with being translated from Russian. That is not the reason I have been slow to read it though. Really, I have just been putting it off. The book itself amazes me every time I pick it up. I find something that confirms my beliefs about God and humanity whenever I read it. It is really making me more fond of Orthodoxy as a whole.
I was raised in a Presbyterian church, until my parents divorced. Then I don't remember going to services again until I was about 15, well after we had moved to Washington State from Texas. That was the summer after 9th grade. I had broken into a neighbor's house during my 9th grade year and I was eventually caught. The guilt of having done what I did was too great and I confessed when I was brought in to the police station. My "friend" who committed these crimes with me, did his best to not be incriminated. I remember him coming to me in the hall at school and talking about how his dad was going to hire some lawyer and I should just not say anything else to the cops. I don't remember what I said, but I remember feeling like we were already caught, we should just face the consequences of our actions. I was freaking pissed at him for wanting to try to continue to get away with our crime and in reality that was probably where our friendship ended.
Anyway, maybe I was motivated by guilt or maybe I just needed guidance, or maybe I was divinely inspired(who knows, it is possible), but I did seek out a church that summer. My mom and I had recently moved, largely because my mom's boyfriend at that time said something like "I don't want that f'ing thief in my home", and we lived near a few churches. I originally went to the Presbyterian church about two blocks away and tried to talk to some one in the office, I think I scared the woman there to death and I got a bad read off the situation. She couldn't speak English well and my general impression of the place was that it was dead. Not really dead, but empty -- for me at least. At that moment the faith I was raised with was lost to me, and I had to find my own(oh, the drama!!! ;-).
On my way back I walked by a church which I will call by it's acronym, KCC, it was an Assemblies of God church and I will get into what that means at some other time. There was a college student named Chris K. changing the sign and I remember asking to speak to the Reverend(being from the south and going to a Presbyterian church I was not familiar with the term Pastor). He introduced me to the youth pastor at the church, Mark. Mark was friendly, full of energy and had a moment to talk. As a result I felt good about the place and I started going to KCC pretty regularly, at least once a week but more often twice a week.
That was my church all through high school, it was one of the few places I felt like I belonged when I was that age and I felt good being there. If anything it kept me out of a lot of trouble and I think I learned a lot while attending service there.
When I came to Boston for school, I tried attending the AG college group and even tried going to a couple of churches, but they were never right. I always felt like I was not in sync with them and I didn't belong. As a result I stopped going to service. I also started to do a lot of soul searching which along with some other soul scouring events in my life, left me a long way from church, and only marginally on a path leading to God.
My Junior year I dated a girl named Kat. She was "interesting", we have not talked in years and I have plenty of memories both good and bad. I loved her at the time however and I am grateful for at least one thing she gave me. When we were dating she brought me to her church in Allston. It is a Bulgarian Orthodox Church, though there are not many Bulgarians and the service is usually in English. The name of the church is Holy Resurrection and it's website is www.hrocboston.org. I attended services and functions there sporadically for a year or so, until I felt like I should convert or leave. I still felt pretty scarred religiously from the extended time I had taken away from church and I didn't know if I felt right embracing Christianity so fervently again. I had a lot of doubts and let questions and confusion get in the way of me pursuing God. I left the church and lived a while without thinking too much about it.
Recently, I have been wanting to be involved in church again, probably because of my new son. It is funny how having a child makes you want to do things like go to church. Anyway, while my wife was pregnant I reacquainted myself with Holy Resurrection in Allston. I came to realize that many of the issues I had were not actually problems, they were just issues I had with other churches. I also have a different perspective on religion now and I have been working out my issues with the acquisition of knowledge by faith and being able to believe in something despite doubt.
There is my first thought. I will hopefully have many more which may or may not be correct, or interesting. I thought on the train today as I was reading, "if more people stopped and thought about God, maybe they wouldn't have time to fight in His name".
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