How it all Began

Although I had no idea at the time, this whole process began many years ago.

I didn't grow up in church and started going when I was in high school with a friend. I became a Christian and quickly got involved. But that is a whole other story. The point is, I started out in a Baptist church, about as far away from the Catholic Church as you can get! I thought all those repetitive rituals were silly and pretty pointless. I did however seem to miss out on all the anti-Catholic stuff, mostly because I have this "addiction" to talking to people on message boards. I read enough from a couple of catholics on the teen religion boards on AOL to know they don't worship Mary and are actually Christians.

When I went to college my faith and theology continued to grow and mature and I drifted away from the baptist traditions. That again is another story, but there are a couple of things that relate to this one.

First, I discovered Ash Wednesday and Lent. I'd never heard of such things before until a couple of good friends invited me to the Ash Wednesday service at the Methodist church right off campus. It was a bit strange at first, but I fell in love with it. The solemnness and fasting just made the joy of Easter all the more vivid. I've been a fairly faithful observer of Lent ever since.

Then I spent a couple of summers working in Dallas with a Methodist organization. Among the things I experienced was Communion at least once a week with all the other people I was working with. Now, coming from a church where we were luck to have it once a quarter, this was quite a shock! But again, I got used to it and began to love it as I learned the words to the liturgy and as God began to speak to me through it.

Then right after I graduated I again worked for the Methodist group, only in Tulsa, OK this time. In our group we had a guy who was a VERY committed Episcopalian. The way he talked and worshiped began to intrigue me. I'm not even sure what it was a about it, but it was interesting. And when shortly after that I moved down here, I stopped at an Episcopal church on Sunday morning during my drive.

So all these seemingly random events began to form how I thought about the world and about the church. I had NO IDEA at the time, but eventually that change in thinking would prepare me for what is happening now.

The Emergent Church