My new church home

For the last six weeks or so, I've been making a Sunday morning trek of about 30 minutes almost directly due south from Shelburne Falls, to Haydenville Congregational Church (a member of the UCC, and an Open and Affirming congregation). HCC is pastored by the Rev. Andrea Ayvazian, a local hero to peace activists (and lots of others) in the valley. Starting to get to know a new church community is always a bit of a twitchy experience for me. All of my shy quietness comes out. And then, add to that, my own complex relationship with the religion of my birth, and it makes for an interesting experience. I've been doing some church shopping over the past few months, and finding the right fit felt like an impossible task. There's the challenge of hearing "he" and "him" all the time for God. The challenge of doctrine of various sorts. There is the challenge of my judging mind. Having been to seminary, and having been a bit of a bible geek, it's really hard for me to sit through exegesis that isn't that good (I remember, with some cringes, of a sermon at another church I sat through with about the worst exegesis I could imagine of my favorite parable - the good Samaritan. I felt like I could have done a much better job, and I didn't even take preaching!) I have felt really at home at HCC. It's a very diverse crowd, in age, background and sexuality. And, I'm usually not the only African American there, which is a nice plus for a Congregational church in New England. Everyone really tries hard to be welcoming, and it is truly genuine. And it is clear from what Andrea says (and the way things are done) that people with a very wide range of views are welcome. And, to top it off, Andrea is a great exegete, and a really good preacher. Today was the day that I finally, really felt like this was a community I could become a part of. I was looking forward to going this morning, I have begun to get to know a few faces and names, and the noise in my head finally yielded to just being in the presence of the Divine. Today, Andrea gave a sermon based on the story in Luke about Jesus' appearance to some folks on the walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus. And for the first time, I think I actually got a tiny, tiny little hint about what resurrection means to me. I remember two years ago, when I was trying my best to approach the concept of Easter - the Christian concept that I think I probably have the hardest time with, and my very well-intentioned but ill-fated spiritual director said that I needed to experience the presence of the risen Christ. I think I flew out of that room about as fast as I could, under the circumstances (I'm exaggerating, but you get the point.) Today, I think I got a tiny little inkling of what that means to me (and it doesn't really have much to do with any human being actually rising from the dead.) There are several folks I knew from the Unitarian Society in Northampton, which I find really interesting, considering how secular USNF is. Perhaps those folks have been on a similar kind of journey as I. I look forward to talking to them about what drew them to HCC. And I look forward to becoming part of the community.