Converting

AS I SIPPED my Synday morning coffee, a bit before dawn, it dwned onme that if I failed to attend church this day, it would be the thrid consecutive Sunday of my absence. I failed. The tiny Presbyterian church in the holler would have to get along without me. I was informed that the previous week there had been seven people in the building,three of whom were there in an official capacity. As it has before, it occured to me that this parish is not lognfor this world,that the church would not live to see its two hundreth annniversary. The main reason I quit going is that the minister, a friend of mine, suggested that I should. "You should probably settle in permanently at the Methodist church in the next town", he told me, paraphrased. Exactly why he wante me out, amid his dearth of congragants, I might never know. Maybe he tired of watching me from the pulpit, twiddling my thumbs and nodding off. (I had assumed he hadn't noticed. Maybe its easier to keep track of five people from an elevated vantage point than I had imagined.))I can take a hint. And, of course, he was right; to a degree. In point of fact I probably shouldn't, andprobably won't settle in anywhere at all regarding religious affiliation. Certainly, I am not a Presbyterian or Methodist, nor, for that matter, any kind of Christian at all. My mind and soul are blank slates, religiously, and, lord willing, shall forever so remain. I cherish open mindedness, and rigorously guard and flaunt mine. I lean strongly towards pantheism, the "religiosity" of Spinoza and Einstein. Humble admiration of the infinitely superier spirit which reveals itself throughout nature, to paraphrase Einstein. What I need is a church even more openminded andliberal than the two previously mentioned. Either that, or I need to sleep in late on Sunday mornings, and upon wakening,drink coffee before going running, biking, or treaemilling. On that schedule, I would awaken early only to feed the cats and use the restroom, in no particular order. A notion struck me awhile back, that I would like to research, explore, and attend, on a trial basis,the Unitarian church a bit further down the road, twenty mmiles to the college town near where I live and let live. problem is,I hate driving, hate it so much that I never tired it until I turned eighteen, and needed a way to get to college. But I've still a hankering to participate in some worthwhile community activity, attend to matters of ths spirit, enjoy the fellowship, and call it a day. Besides, one can only get so much exercise on a sunday morning, and, well, right after the cats have their early breakfast, they settle down and go right back to sleep, and that's no fun. I did my assiduous reaseatch, since the folks I had asked had provided only a rudimentary, cursory description of the precise nature of "Unitarianism", and I needed more. Almost immediately I liked whatI found. for one thing, the Unitarian folks seem to meet in a very nice bilding, relatively conveniently located,and, from what I could tellfrom the pictures, they sit in very comfortable chairs,eawh with his or her very own well cushioned resting place. The minister is a lady, and I like that. Above all, hey accept eveyrbody, which most denominations claim to do but don't. Come as you are, whatever your faith. I would (will?) be sitting among Muslims,Jew, agnostice,atheits, come one, come all. That in itself amazes, motivates, and inspires me. So, I plan to give it a try, gas prices and all. The worst thing can hppen to me, other than mechanical failure, is that I will emerge from some service some day utterly confused as to my precise religion, without giving a damn.