Do you have a minute?

Damn Neptune's Witnesses... can't escape them anywhere!

So, for the first time in my adult life, I woke up Sunday morning and walked to church. I have voluntarily gone to Catholic mass a few times with a dear friend of mine, but generally I avoid churches. It was one such time at mass, Easter actually, that the members of the church were renewing their baptismal vows. My friend whispered that I didn't need to participate since I in fact was not baptized in a Catholic church, and therefore have taken no such vows, but very quietly I did in my own way. 

And before you get worried that I offended the good Catholics at mass, don't be silly, I whispered everything so quietly that even the person standing next to me couldn't hear. 

Priest: Do you renounce Satan?
Me: (easy question) Yes.
Priest: Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth?
Me: (hard question) Maybe?
Priest: Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified, died, and was buried, rose from the dead, and is not seated at the right hand of the Father?
Me: (Hmmm, well you had me at Jesus, but you lost me at virgin...) Kinda.

The other part that plays into this is that I've been taking an active approach to changing my life recently. I have been much more proactive about making changes which are so obviously needed and it has given me a sense of hope to do so. One of the things that I've decided needs to change about my life, particularly since I'm facing a possible commitment to staying in the district for many years, is that I don't have a community connection here, and I don't know people other than those I've worked, played (rugby) or lived with. 

Since I have always enjoyed services at my grandmother's church, I did some online stalking to figure out that they go to a United Church of Christ church. I located my nearest UCC church, which was a mere 0.7 miles from my house, and promptly at 10:20 I walked in a sat down near the back. There are two things that I think may have been a sign... First, I love singing in church, and to be honest everywhere else, Sunday's service involved members of the congregation volunteering their favorite hymns and lots of extra singing. I was informed that this is not how it always is, but I liked it. Second there was a meeting after the service for potential new members of the church to get some information about the church locally and about UCC in general. 

I'm not going to make a habit of posting about my "spiritual journey" because I just think that's cheesy. And it's a terrible pun. The real reason that I decided to write this post anyway was so that I would have a good reason to share that photo.