It's a lovely day and a Sunday.
Lou and I went to Willow Creek Church for Sunday services, met my daughter Kim there, and went out to breakfast afterwards. Lou is struggling a little bit, but he's trying very hard to sort things out. He was raised Catholic and retains a strong attachment, yet after attending Mass on Sunday he picks me up to go to Willow. He has been attending grief counselling at Willow and has encouraged his own daughters to visit. Yet, he sometimes expresses doubts about Willow, upholding the Catholic Church as the true church and describing other churches as offshoots organised to accomodate the less rigorously faithful by ministers who have their own (suspect) motives.
I was very proud of Kim, she was not intimidated by Lou's impolite assertions. Neither was she defensive, nor did she respond argumentively. I think she recognised that Lou's confusion can't be resolved with a few words over breakfast.
Lou's wife used to call herself a "recovering Catholic", as though her Catholic childhood had burdened her with such guilty feelings that she still hadn't fully recovered. I was raised Catholic, and I don't usually feel guilty enough. But there is the "vale of tears" thing with Catholics, or at least Irish Catholics, which promotes the understanding that we here on earth suffer the pain and humiliation of a mortal, physical existence during which, if we remain devoted to Christ and his teachings, we will earn an eteral reward in heaven.
That's a whole different understanding than what I get at Willow - that salvation is not something we earn, that Jesus earned it with the ultimate sacrifice and it is His gift to us which we only need to accept and acknowlege. Of course, it is to be understood that in acknowleging and accepting His sacrificial gift we should resolve to live in a way that honors his wishes for us.
The difference is that with the latter understanding (or faith) one can be joyous as a faithful child of God should be. With the former understanding, one might be suspicious of the happy Christians. Maybe that is why the part of the Willow service Lou likes least is the worship when people sing uplifting songs of praise and are really happy doing it.
Well, Janett had Pride and Prejudice on but it got over and she put on Proof. A lot less conducive background for writing. So that's all for now.
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1 comment:
Hi Dad, thanks.
I really respect Lou and how serious he has been about his faith. I was a little surprised by some of his comments, but actions speak louder than words and Lou has shown by his actions that he wants to know God more and that he doesn't want to settle for anything less than the truth. That's awesome.
I like your thoughts about joy and salvation. It occurred to me today that if I could sum up what Easter means to me in one word it would be "freedom." Is there any truer freedom than freedom from death and the law? The freedom that Easter achieved is so all encompassing that it makes freedom from slavery or imprisonment small in comparison.
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