Driving To Church

YESTERDAY, SUNDAY, I decided to go to church. Last Sunday I went for a wonderful run around the local lake, a form of religious service. I flipped a coin mentally, and decided to drive the twenty miles to the Uniterian Universalist service, mainly beause I now consider myself a Uniterian Universalist. Once again, as always, the entire service was, in my oinion, wonderful. The entire two hours I was there, one hour for the infomral discussion group in the basement, another hour for the actual service in the lovely chapel, I never spoke a word, or scarcely did, being quite content to simply listen. The entire time, in both activities, somebody was almost constantly saying something valuable, worthwhile, intelligent, and I was learning from it and inspired by it. It was a great pleasure for me. Once again, as always, the hymns the Unitarians sang were in my estimation transcendantly beautiful, both musically and in terms of the message delivered. One, titled "We Are A Circle" I found especially moving, lovely, upbeat. A lady stood and started clapping while singing, and soon, most of the rest of us, between fifty and seventy five people, were also on our feet, using energy. I loved it, and was tempted to stomp my foot. I refrained. I have now participated in singing maybe a dozen Unitarian hymns or so, and they are all the same; beautiful, wonderful. I would like to take a Unitarian hymnal to every conservative evangelical Christian I know, hand it to them, and say, "here,try this". The UU congregation seems to be to be a well educated, intellectual, progressive bunch generally, which also suits me. I fear I shall always be a mere visitor, however, and not an actual member of the church, becsuse I have to drive twenty miles to get there, and twenty miles back home, a bit far for me. I would rather be able to walk to church. Unitarian Universalism seems less like an actual "religion" to me, but more a foraml, ceremonial celebration of spirituality and religiosity in all their various forms. Peraonsally I am a "pantheist", a follower of Spinoza, and no matter what your personal religious beliefs,you are welcome and included at UU, and I love that. Their ceremonies, many of them remindful of but different from traditions like communion and baptism, are always elegant, lovely, and comforting. On Sundays when I don't feel like driving forty miles through heavy traffic I instead drive to the Presbyterian church about five miles from my house, a beautiful scenic but relatively short drive along a small country road. That's where the minister is a friend of mine, as are all congregants, who scarcely number ten. The little country church struggles to reach double sigits in attendance. The minister understands that I am not a Presbyterian, nor even a Christian, but that I sometimes don't want to drive twenty miles, and would rather atttend his church, which I do not feel unpleasant nor entirely incompatible with my personal beliefs. But the essential, spiritual message from the Christian faith, the message of Jesus, which this minister delivers reliably, is worthy of everyone's acceptance and embrace, regardless of matters of dogma. There is an Islamic Mosque right across the street from our uinversity football stadium. I would almost like to attend one of their services, as a visitor. Heaven knows I've had enough unpleasant experiences inside the football stadium, recently. A 2-7 record can have that effect. I could use some nearby, across the street comfort, inspiration, and rejuvenation, and, if not for that, what are religions, what is any religion for?