let’s go to… church???

First of all, M is still doing great and I’ve just been eating up her fun, enthusiastic, mostly sweet, normal personality. We’ve started the mag and the lithium this week and so far so good.

So, no surprise I’m sure, but I’m not religious. I wouldn’t call myself an atheist, but I think most Christians probably would think I am. I say I’m not because I think “God” is just putting a human face, or characterization, on the mystical or intuitive part of our natural world. I think science and “God” go hand in hand, and I definitely don’t find much common sense in deist theologies or mythical stories (other than as stories that help us to understand what is sometimes unfathomable to us as humans). Anyway, just a few roads away from me out here in the middle of nowhere, is a little country church with an old schoolhouse that has been converted into a children’s “classroom” for religious (or non-religious, but spiritual) education. It’s a Universalist Unitarian church, and at least in the midwest, that is speak for “liberal spirituality”. It’s also a super cute, old building:

As a teenager I found a supportive community and like-minded group of teens to “come out” with, and my mom and I attended regularly for several years. I have fond memories of those times, of the people who attended, and of the ideas and spiritual concepts discussed there. I’ve also gone to the Christmas service when M was 9 months old (and walking, I might add, so we had to stand in the back a few times as she wasn’t keen on sitting still), and again when she was 18 months old and just cried whenever I left her in the nursery.

So here we are with her being 3 years old, and loving other kids, and I thought we could give it another try. It’s hard for me to be alone all day with a young kid, and I was craving some grown-up socialization. I explained to her that I would be just in another room, and she could stay and play with the other kids and toys. She was totally cool with it, and I got to go up and meditate to Buddhist and beat poetry, as well as some spring jazz collections (this “church” is just cool). It was really refreshing and good for me. When I picked her up from the nursery they said she was really good, no issues, and she had fun.

A lot of the people at the church remember me, and there are many foster parents (and adoptive parents) there as well. I’d even say more of the kids there were foster or adopted than biological! This makes me want to start going regularly. It would be great for M to spend time in a community where not all children look like their parents on the outside, where people understand that families are complicated and complex, and where LGBT people, disabled people, and people of all faiths (and atheists) are truly welcome. I’d love it if her “Sunday school” was just a fun, playful introduction to spirituality (meditation, major world religions, etc) rather than an indoctrination (I won’t even let her go to the nursery at my grandma’s Methodist church while my grandma is there.)

So for people who know me, it may just be the weirdest news ever, that I’m thinking about going to church regularly! Haha.

Author: Mother of All Things

Mother by fostering, adoption, and marriage... wife to my best friend... Bay area critical care nurse... travel in my blood, reading in my bones, clean food on my mind! View all posts by Mother of All Things