The Inward Journey of Faith

A fellow gay blogger recently declared his departure from the church. I, too, have put some distance betweeen my self and the church. In my case, I consider myself estranged from the United Church of Canada, but not divorced from it. As a progressive and liberal church, I still see the value of many aspects of the Christian faith. The Christian mystics were in some cases gay, lesbian or third gender and who knows about some of the Hebrew prophets?

But more to the point and to the particular case of my fellow blogger, http://eragonsjournals.blogspot.com/ : those of us who have come up against the "institutional church" travel the way of the man Jesus. He was outside of the institutional organization of the church and in some ways this gave him the power to critique from a place of personal power. I believe this was the source of his authority!

When we come up against the power of the church, perhaps this is the invitation to do the inward work. It may be for some of us, the initiation into the way of Jesus! In fact, for gay men it is a rite of spiritual passage given to us by Jesus through the church. This could be the baptism through the old passes away and the true believer is born again. Remember how Nicodemus asked Jesus, " how is it possible for a grown man to be born again?" ( John 3:4)

This is the start of a spiritual journey centred on love and compassion away from judgment and condemnation. " When we step into the authenticity and power of who we are, we are standing the power of the Divine.

The purpose of the divine will is to give "a more abundant life spiritually" and individuals themselves condemn/ limit themselves by not standing in integrity and in alignment with loving the divine or loving neighbors as themselves. I believe, when I am successful at standing in my own integrity and being authentic; I am loving myself and I am able to work through anger and forgive, loving others.

This has worked for me; this is only my personal statement and is not meant to be applied to everyone, everywhere! This is a declaration based on my own experience. I know, though, we are all held in a loving embrace of a guiding divinity that appears to all of us in the form / process that connects with us personally. All a human has to do is be open.....

Be Blessed.....your faerieshaman