Day 8

We went to the Center for Spiritual Enlightenment today for the second week in a row. It's nice for me not to know anyone and not know about all that other "stuff" that happens in spiritual community. I love that at this Center, they spend 10 minutes in the Silence in the middle of their service, it's the only place I've experienced this. It's a reminder how powerful this is during any day, just to stop in the middle of activity and be still for 10 minutes. God first in all that we do.

When I'm there, I have the simultaneous feeling of missing being the minister of a church, and not missing it at all. I don't miss the constant drama that seems to rear itself more intensely in spiritual community, but I do miss preaching and teaching tremendously, and the deep intimacy of relationships anchored in conscious relationship in God.

The great thing about this period in my life is I realize I like church; I was never sure before this. As a kid we went because we had no choice. Though I liked it, when I had choice in highschool, I didn't go very much...and never went to church again until I started going to Agape in L.A. That's such an unusual place, and Rev. Michael is so exceptional that I didn't know if I'd be interested in any church beyond that...especially since by the time I graduated from ministerial school I was back to my old life- rarely going to services at Agape (though I did work there during the week).

So often as a minister speaking on a Sunday morning, I'd look out over the congregation and wonder, "why do they come here on a Sunday morning?"

And now I know why...community in God...it's heaven. Thank You God, and may I/we know Your community all week long!


Oh and...The Departed, did you ever see it? I loved, loved that movie, my favorite Martin Scorcese film yet...and yet I hated the end. He killed off Odysseus! The main character (whose name I can't remember, played by Leo DiCaprio) gets killed at the almost end of the movie. What if Homer had killed of Odysseus before he got home to Penelope? If he had, we wouldn't be still be reading the Odyssey today. It was a brilliant movie about the heroe's journey, except Scorsese (and whoever wrote it) killed off the heroe....making the movie a little less brilliant.