Friday, April 15, 2011

Friday Shootout - Places of worship

This will be a short entry.  I'm using my blog time to do a tongue-in-cheek blog on Charelston's 150th anniversary celebration of the firing on Fort Sumter...

I've got some archive cathedral shots but I think I've posted the best ones already. 

Thinking about my own places of worship, there is one that stands out. 


For years, Karen and I have had a daily ritual -- mostly on weekdays -- in the mornings.  Whoever leaves first, will call the other one and we share a short daily reading over the cellphone and then take turns praying.  My prayers are usually pretty short and based on a suggestion from Alcoholics Anonymous that we pray "only for knowledge of God's will and the power to carry it out."

I don't go to church a lot and have to process a little bit of guilt about that, particularly in the Southern U.S. bible belt.   When I do go to church, I enjoy the prayer, the praise, the music, the environment -- but I usually have difficulty with sermons or sunday school lessons.  

This is because that, while I have an unshakeable belief in God and a sense of God's presence in my life, I have real difficulty with people who can define God and teach God's truth...this is good, this is bad...God likes this, God doesn't like that...

In fact, I even have difficulty with myself when I think too hard about what God is and what God isn't.  It seems to me that if God is really God -- the God of the whole Universe and not just the God of America, apple pie, and football teams -- then trying too hard to understand Him (Her, It, They) is a bit futile. 

I tend to think that the mosquito that lands on my arm and gets some sustainance from my blood is capable of understanding everything about me as about as much as I am capable of understanding everything about God.  So I pray a lot, meditate some, and have a consistent sense of a relationship beyond myself, but I try not to define it.  

And I try to avoid theological debates. 

But since this is actually a photoshoot, I will take one shot that I know I've used before but I rather like it so will risk repeating it.





13 comments:

  1. Wonderful words that ring so true and so sincere. I have been a "devout" Catholic all my life. Everything 'they' said I did or did not. At 73 I now see things so differently. I am devout but not so sure about the "they."
    QMM

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  2. Beautiful words beautiful photo, an inspiration! Happy weekend!

    FTSO

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  3. a beautiful shot, and i forgot about my booklet Daily Bread, a devotional and also my 7 bibbles, they are indeed places of worship, as is the swing in my back yard. to understand God I read the Bible, and let him speak to me and tell me what is good and what is not, and not just what people say

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  4. THAT is a great shot (worthy of repeating, although I don't recall it). What a sweet tradition you and your wife have!

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  5. A very beautiful tradition both of you have!

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  6. Love the slipped halo - I can identify with that. And that shot is well worth repeating! As for the text, I avoid theological discussions.

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  7. Glad you recycled it -- I don't remember it.

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  8. Well said! I agree with how you feel about the subject and that's a great picture. What a wonderful tradition you have with your wife.

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  9. It's slipped off your ear, you know. :) Like that last shot a lot. Like your way of thinking a lot too.

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  10. We all struggle with this. Those that do not struggle are not really thinking or feeling...they seem to just like being and never questioning.

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  11. My sentiments exactly. Just in case, I have a statue or artifact of every religion in my folk-arty room. Jewish? I'm covered. Catholic? I'm covered. Buddhist? I'm covered. You get the idea.

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