"It Worked!"

For the past 50 or so years we have supported The War Amps by buying and using their key tags. Have we lost keys in the time? YES! Have they been returned through War Amps? NO! But still we kept supporting them with our yearly [well, almost yearly] donation… except the last couple of years when we decided ‘no more’. This past week, I received a call from The War Amps telling me that the latest set of missing keys had been found and giving me the needed contact information to retrieve them. It was almost two months from when the keys went missing [not their fault] and we had replaced them all, but still ….. It worked and so we'll continue to support them and use their services

This started me thinking that this was not unlike my faith journey over the last 50 years. Over that time I have supported the main-line church with my time, talent and money, however my faith did not become more certain, my unease with its teachings less, or my comfort with my questioning more. I was ready to leave. Just like with the The War Amps! They didn't do what I still believe they perceive as their job, make me into a 'card-carrying' Christian comfortable in my faith, accepting the word of the church as the final one on doctrines and creeds.

 This is where the story might yet change.  I have come to embrace my questions, the ambiguity, the creative tension; to take responsibility for my own spiritual maturing. I no longer believe that the church is essential to my spiritual growth or that it can deliver either certainty or correct answers. At its best it is a community that supports individuals as they question, doubt, and grow. Will I stay within the church? That remains to be seen!