It has been over a year and a half ago that we started our Church Search and it has finally come to an end. We've found a church. And we're joining it officially on October 23, which will be the same day that Lukas is baptized at said church. As we discussed with the Pastor, it'll be nice to all join together on the same day, as a family.
Our search didn't go as I'd assumed it would. I envisioned us trying out lots of different churches in Atlanta and had even started a list of places I was interested in, but we only ended up going to three different churches during our search. The first was Redeemer Lutheran Church on Peachtree in Midtown. It is a beautiful church that Mr. Cob and I had attended multiple times a few years back. We liked it, but there was something that never felt quite "right" to me. I was always a little uncomfortable. And the one pastor we really like had left the church in the few years since we'd attended.
The second church we went to was Buckhead Church with some friends. It was an entertaining service, but ultimately was not what we were looking for, for various reasons.
The third church we tried was St. John's Lutheran church on Ponce in the Candler Park/Druid Hills area of Atlanta, about 5 minutes from our house. We've driven by the church countless times and thrown out the idea of trying it one day. Eventually a few months ago, that one day came. It's a smaller church than I thought we'd end up in. The first service we attended was in the summer and the regular pastor was out of town, so there was a female pastor filling in. I enjoyed the service. Mr. Cob seemed to like it just fine, but was a tad weary of the smallness. We both liked it enough that we decided we'd go again when the regular pastor was back to hear him and give it a second chance. And then I did some research on the internet and came across this piece on the pastor. And while most people will probably think I'm nuts for saying this, reading that piece is the reason I initially new that this church might be the place for us. The fact that Pastor Bradley is gay said all I needed to know about this church. It was open to all people. It was liberal. It practiced what Christians preach. Acceptance. Nonjudgement. Love. I called Mr. Cob and shared this bit of information with him and told him I definitely wanted to go back. He thought I was crazy, but having grown up Lutheran himself, I believe he was happy that we might end up raising our own family in the religion of his childhood.
So we went back. And then we went back again, and again. Every week that we go, I feel good afterwards. I feel happier about the world and have a renewed sense of faith in people. I smile more. I look forward to going back the next week.
This is a very odd and strange thing for me. I have never before been fully comfortable in any church. I don't usually connect with the sermon and what people are saying. I am going through the motions and fidgeting the entire time. But that has changed since we've found St. Johns.
We had coffee with Pastor Bradley and talked about joining the church and getting Lukas baptized. Our conversation with him left in me with similar feeling to how I felt when we met with Brian, the Methodist minister that married us. They are both very open and loving and not at all what I thought clergymen would be like. I realized that I didn't have to believe 100% of the things that I thought Christians believed in before joining the church. I don't have to have all the answers to the questions I have. Best of all, I felt comfortable talking to Pastor Bradley about the questions I had about faith, Hell and Christianity. He suggested some books that I might find interesting on the topic and the one I've already read, Love Wins, was a great read and one that I connected with.
Yesterday, St. John's Church celebrated the Feast of St. Francis with a blessing of the animals during the service. So we brought our pup, Wrigley to church with us. Lukas' favorite thing (aside from his mom and dad, of course), are dogs. He can say the word dog. He walks up to Wrigley, throws himself on her and just loves on her. He can find pictures of dogs in his books. And he gets very happy when he sees a dog. So you can only imagine his joy upon sitting in church and staring, pointing at all the doggies and repeatedly saying "dog" yesterday. As I sat in the last pew with my 11 month old son on my lap, babbling "dog" during the silent moments, my husband a little harried sitting next to me while our dog pawed at the puppy in front of her, I smiled and was truly happy in this chruch.
I am happy that we have found a place where I can explore my faith and hopefully grow in it. I am happy that Lukas will be raised at a church that seems to practice what it preaches and that he will be taught at church to truly accept all types of people, no matter what. I am happy that my family now has a church home. I am happy that the church search has come to a successful end.
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