i was raised catholic and methodist. my mother believed in covering her bases. knowingthe parochial system was probably the way for me to get the best education, she had me baptised catholic, although she herself was methodist. this double dipping required regular attendance to both denominations every weekend until i was about 15 or 16. so i consider myself a bit of an expert on the subject.
methodism in the caribbean was of the weslyean school; the sing a joyful noise unto the lord. there was a rich hymnal and every church we visited had a choir or an organ or both. one of my memories growing up was the fundraising efforts that seemed to go on forever to restore the organ of our home church that had been damaged in a fire. i was also attending mass in the catholic church post vatican ii and in the caribbean that also entailed a rich and diverse hymnal that moved you figuratively and literally and made a rhythm section almost mandatory at most churches. but it’s not just the music, i’ve gone to multiple catholic and methodist services in the trinidad and the rest of the caribbean using the same hymnal and i haven’t been moved in the same way. but this isn’t just about the music, it’s about the interaction.
there’s a comfort level you get when you find a place to worship and you can laugh and cry and be angry together or at each other and know that you are still loved unconditionally. there are in fact an extention of your family, your community. when you have that, it makes the worship special. the physical location doesn’t actually matter, it is in fact incidental. you feel a connection that makes you happier or even less sad or restores, even for a moment your faith in humanity. that’s a kind of intimacy that i think comes from true worship and i’ve found it.
it’s christmas, c’est noel. noel. it’s also yule, mithras, chanukah, kwanza or festivus.
whatever you’re celebrating at this time of year, all the best to you, may you find comfort and happiness with friends and family and if you’re travelling get to and from safely.
now that i’ve got that out of the way i wanted to talk about respect. not everyone believes the same things and that’s what makes humanity interesting or it’s what should make it interesting. because we have differing opinions doesn’t automatically give you the right to belittle me or my beliefs. i was born and raised in methodist/catholic household and at one point considered joining the priesthood, not necessarily seriously, but i did consider it. i started having organisational issues with religion and started asking difficult questions, which in most cases still haven’t been resolved. you could say in my late teens i took my comparative religions studies and found they all had the same fundamental problem – the karma, was sound, but soon or later, the dogma over powered it.
i worship at UU congregation in nashville and last night we had our christmas celebration, just as we had our yule celebration last sunday, because the basic tenet of our faith is open and accepting of all beliefs. so it really chapped my ass to have a guest disrespect our minister and community last night. maybe my christian upbringing was different, but i believe the message we were given was to ‘love one another as i have loved you’ and i think part of that love is to be respectful.
i believe we assign our human foibles to our god, but it would do us good to remember that we’re made in the creator’s image not the other way around. i believe in a compassionate, understanding, forgiving god, free of hate, with a sense of humour, if that’s not your belief, i thank you to at least respect mine.
