i have been church hopping around Chicago since i got here a year and a half ago. i always GO, i just always go to different places, which sounds cool in the beginning, but when you get down to the nitty gritty, it's actually not that cool.
at the beginning of the year i told myself i was just going to stop and settle someplace, but whenever i would actually do that, i would think to myself "hey, wait, i don't want to be here" and then i would move on.
my "things i want in a church" list is slightly longer than my "things i want in a guy list," and goes a little something like this:
non-heretical
challenging, interesting, not-hard-to follow sermons
commitment to social justice/ awareness of social injustice
diverse congregation
hospitality
use of gender inclusive language (not just from the pulpit, from the hymnals, Bible translation, etc.)
on Sunday, i went to Lasalle St. Church on the West Side of Chicago with some friends from seminary, and i kind of liked it. it for sure had the first 3 things going on, it was rocking with the last thing (even used non-gendered language for God -- things like Godself and God's instead of pronouns), and there was a woman pastor.
we left pretty quickly, so i didn't get a chance to see hospitality in action, and it seemed pretty white (but the woman we went with said that changes week to week), but on the whole, i think i'll go back.
i'm not going to talk about it anymore as there's a chance i could get all excited and then decide that the church sucks next week. but i feel like the tide may have turned.
5 comments:
There are always the Quakers. Look for a programmed meeting (as opposed to the usual unprogrammed). It'd fit your criteria.
I never thought of all the gender-neutral language you mentioned. That's cool. On a slightly related note, one of my favorite songs these days is called "Burnt Offering," by this local political hip-hop group called the Blue Scholars. Mainly it's about internal colonization, but one part I like goes:
I need a brand-new prayer to read/
Seems the old ones grew tons of mould cuz they're narrow as hell/
Sometimes they be thinkin' that this heaven's for sale/
Or worse than that they still think God is a male/ ..
Again, Quakers. It's not just about oatmeal. (That's the official slogan.)
That's a good slogan. Y'all should seriously push for a copyright on that.
Btw, funnyness re: "things I want in a guy" comment.
i get it, quaker quaker.
if i end up hating this church, i'll look them up.
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