virtualberta

Another lovely, peaceful Sunday...

Sundays are my favorite days, because it lends itself to leisurely brunches with close friends, which means good food, the Sunday paper, and interesting conversation. As usual, Angela, Jen, Eugenio, Linda, and I met up for brunch at United Mix. Joaquin and Mate were unable to join us because they had company, and their presence was sorely missed. Maria, Seth, and Jeff joined us today as well.

Speaking of Sundays, TC recently wrote this in his blog:

Eventually I became conversant in many different kinds of church ceremonies, i.e., when to kneel, when to sing, when when I could get away with doodling on the program notes for lengthy periods of time during the sermon. I didn't pay much attention to the sermons because if I had I would just have wanted to respond to the pastor's claims, but I knew from confirmation class that discussion was frowned upon. We were God's Flock, dammit. Sheep don't discuss things. Shut up, TC. Nobody wants to hear your theories on why the Philistines might not have been so bad after all.

I laughed out loud when I read it! Thankfully, my co-workers didn't seem to notice. And on another thankful note, in the religious experiences that I've had, people have always been willing to discuss with me my responses to various religious tenets. I do feel like God is always watching over me, which provides reassurance, though...I have not resolved the differences between my political views and views on the way people should live their lives, and the way the average devout Christian in the U.S. lives his or her life.

Something which I do keep in mind is what I once read in The Jesus I Never Knew, by Philip Yancey. In the book, Yancey points out that Jesus was a guy who hung out with the unpopular crowd, and was perfectly comfortable with them. Jesus was a guy whom "those in authority..regarded him as a troublemaker, a disturber of the peace. He spoke and acted like a revolutionary, scorning fame, family, property, and other traditional measures of success." I'd like to have that compassion for others that he had.

I think I am entering a philosophical realm in which I'm not going to be able to express myself as clearly as I'd like to right now, so I'll just leave it at that.