My Last Day at Grace

As some of you know, I have reached a milestone in my religious life...I am no longer a member of Grace Christian Fellowship. This past Sunday was my last week at Grace, a church I have gone to since it's beginning. Now with that chapter in my life over I am beginning the task of finding a new church, one that Claudia and I will both enjoy (don't get me wrong, she enjoyed Grace too).

Although I haven't attended any new churches yet, I have been thinking about what kind I would like. There's a couple different extremes. Protestant, evangelical, 'charismatic' churches (similar to Grace) are what I've always been to. While Claudia is from a much more traditional, Catholic background. But somehow, neither of these seems to fit...it's not the tradition or the lack of tradition that doesn't fit. It's something different. I suppose the only way I can describe what I'm looking for is something 'irreligious'. Whether it's traditional or not doesn't really matter, it's what's behind the tradition.

In a recent letter Claudia wrote to me, she talked about us being radical, about our quest for God taking a more radical approach. I think she meant not just fitting in to norms (in whatever type of church we go to), about being radical in our approach to God and to Christianity.

It seems to me that we're both on the same track. When Jesus came he wasn't against traditions or against non-traditions. To quote Bruxy Cavey "God doesn't hate organized religion because it's organized but because it's religion" and "the antidote to organized religion is not disorganized religion but organized irreligion."

So that's it...Irreligion - the amazing message of Jesus.