GAW is your family, pedes—but we're not your immediate friends! Covid did some real damage to our lives, and many of us have seen our social support circle of friends (and acquaintances, also important!) shrink. Covid ends when we heal and rebuild our social circle! Take a chance! GET OUT THERE! 🐸
(media.greatawakening.win)
🗣️ DISCUSSION 💬
Thank you so much for the link. I didn't even know that your forum existed since I only hang around here for news, though I did also join The Prayer Garden. I will join tonight.
Thank you also for the advice on finding a church. It gets so confusing and discouraging when I look at church websites and see that so many have a "contemporary" format, and I don't enjoy that. I appreciate churches that are more old-fashioned and simple.
My husband grew up in an extremely Catholic household and went through twelve years of strict Catholic school, so he pretty much refuses to try a church at this point. He thinks they're all bad and doesn't want anything to do with it. I am hoping and praying that he will become more open to it. Maybe moving to the area where we're going will help with that. I have a feeling that all the people we will meet there will be church people, so he's going to have to get used to it to some extent, lol.
Thank you for all the advice and Bible references. That helps a lot.
When it comes to my husband, I know the worst thing I can do is get too enthusiastic or pushy about church with him. It's something I will have to do on my own for a while. I'm not even sure at this point which type of church I will try. I may visit a few when we get moved. Our new home is in a VERY small area (population 500), but there are two larger towns within 30-45 minutes of where we'll be. Personally, I hold nothing against the Catholic church or its people, and I believe its problems lie with certain higher-ups and corrupt individuals. Obviously, there are many admirable Catholic leaders like Cardinal Vigano, Brother Bugnolo, and others who have been vocal over the past couple of years about the Deep State and the Great Reset. I'd be willing to attend a Catholic church if it had conservative leadership, but I doubt seriously that I will EVER get my husband to go to one.
Kind of on topic, but the town where we're currently living has a Catholic church I checked into when we got here. The priest has a weekly blog, and every week he encouraged parishioners to get vaccinated because it was the correct thing to do to help our neighbors. Needless to say, I never visited that church.
There is an Eastern Orthodox church within a reasonable drive from our new place, so I'm also thinking of visiting them. I've always been attracted to their ideas and practices.
I think you're right that, when it comes to husbands, wives need to be quiet and peaceful about promoting a relationship with Christ. I hope that, if I start to get active in a church, he will see what I'm doing and how it affects me and want to get involved. And, of course, there's prayer for him.
I joined your Christianity forum on Scored. Looking forward to getting involved there. I could use some support as I'm going down this road! Thanks again for your help!
Oh, yeah, the EO Church is amazing. I have to say, theologically and philosophically, it is about as close to perfect as I have found in all my years of reading about different denominations. I just never had the chance to visit one, but now I will finally be close enough to one and the coof is over and I have no excuse not to go. The one in my area is pretty tiny. It's actually affiliated with a military base, but civilians can also attend. I don't believe that they are OCA. I am guessing they lean Greek Orthodox because the priest is Greek, but they don't say officially on their website that they are a Greek church.
I enjoy listening to Jonathan Pageau and Jay Dyer, although Dyer gets a bit too egotistical and snarky for me at times. They both have good and interesting EO perspectives.
The only thing I would miss in an EO church is music. I grew up Southern Baptist and played the piano in my church, so I always loved getting into hymns and hearing the organ. We also had plays and Christian musicals in my church when I was a kid, which I enjoyed. EO music seems limited to vocals and formal chanting, but it's beautiful and highly spiritual, of course.
And you're right about our personal, private relationship with Jesus. That's the most important thing. If nothing works out, I will continue trying to build relationships on Christian forums and studying in private.