man, this site is dead.

[seeker]

Come on people.

I will be attending my 2nd EC service tomorrow. Looking forward to it. Peace!

[Uriel]

Hello, seeker. I used to post here and elsewhere often. But I have not for a long time found the interchange to be nourishing, because of the level of conflict in the church - at least the church online. When, some years ago, I returned to the church after decades away, I was delighted to find online discussion boards and expected to find a place to share my delight in returning to the open, spiritually encouraging church I had left.

While I did find some whose voices were those of the church I knew, I was shocked to find that there was also something like a self-appointed Spanish Inquisition originating with some posters, often the most prolific ones. Well, a Spanish Inquisition, and a howling mob. On supposedly Episcopal sites, I found proponents of ideas which were entirely alien to the church I knew, up to and including monstrous ideas like millennialism and the Rapture - who threatened me with hell, etc.

Of course, I think all that is nonsense, but it took me away from what had seemed to me like a growing spirituality. The most active discussions are the ones that become the most heated, and I was no more immune than anyone else from the attraction of a good fight.

(Let me add that the church I grew up in didn't really looke too closely at what individuals believed, and I always thought that was a strength of the church. Maybe these ideas were always there in the pews beside me, but I was never assaulted with them.)

I had hoped to find kindred spirits, and while, of course, there were some of those, the degree of hostility which we have of course come to understand is part of the online experience, became off-putting.

I welcome you to the Episcopal Church, and hope that you find the Church welcoming and nourishing.

Uriel

[seeker]

Mar 14, 2009 14:20:21 GMT -5 Uriel said:

Hello, seeker. I used to post here and elsewhere often. But I have not for a long time found the interchange to be nourishing, because of the level of conflict in the church - at least the church online. When, some years ago, I returned to the church after decades away, I was delighted to find online discussion boards and expected to find a place to share my delight in returning to the open, spiritually encouraging church I had left.

While I did find some whose voices were those of the church I knew, I was shocked to find that there was also something like a self-appointed Spanish Inquisition originating with some posters, often the most prolific ones. Well, a Spanish Inquisition, and a howling mob. On supposedly Episcopal sites, I found proponents of ideas which were entirely alien to the church I knew, up to and including monstrous ideas like millennialism and the Rapture - who threatened me with hell, etc.

Of course, I think all that is nonsense, but it took me away from what had seemed to me like a growing spirituality. The most active discussions are the ones that become the most heated, and I was no more immune than anyone else from the attraction of a good fight.

(Let me add that the church I grew up in didn't really looke too closely at what individuals believed, and I always thought that was a strength of the church. Maybe these ideas were always there in the pews beside me, but I was never assaulted with them.)

I had hoped to find kindred spirits, and while, of course, there were some of those, the degree of hostility which we have of course come to understand is part of the online experience, became off-putting.

I welcome you to the Episcopal Church, and hope that you find the Church welcoming and nourishing.

Uriel

Thanks a bunch. I will probably join sometime after Easter. Right now, I told folks I was giving up Catholicism for Lent so I'm on an inquiry session each Sunday until Easter. I'm gonna talk with one of my present parish priests and inform him of my decision out of respect. He's a great guy and an example that some of the other Catholic priests should look up to and I just want to let him know after all the good things he's done for me.

After that, I gotta speak to one of the local Episcopal priests. Again, thanks. Peace!

[seeker]

Attended Rite I at Church of the Ascension in Seneca, SC this morning and enjoyed it. Nice parish and the people were extremely friendly. I feel like God is truly leading me.