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Here's a story from my childhood in light of events at #crcsynod but might also be interesting to people in other denominations who find themselves grieving the outcomes of other meetings.
For two summers when I was a teen or tween my family took a "vacation from church".
That meant that every Sunday for a couple months we'd go to a different church. It wasn't the full range of what was available in our rural community. But it was a bunch of random churches. 1/x
In hindsight, I suspect my parents were looking around because of something that was going on in denominational politics and hoping to find a church that was a better fit for us. But as a teen I didn't know that. I only knew that we were visiting all these churches.
We never did end up going anywhere else long term. At the end of both those summers we returned to our usual church and all the connections and obligations we had there. But the experience was an immensely valuable one for me. 2/x
I learned through those visits that there were other churches. And that there were faithful people there. And that those faithful people worshiped the same God just a little bit differently than I was used to.
I learned that the Church is bigger than the congregation of my childhood.
And even more practically, I learned how to walk into a church that I'd never been to before. How to look for the work that God is going there and think about how that might relate to me. 3/x
Maybe, after a week of painful meetings and harmful decisions, you need that reminder too.
The Church is bigger than the CRC. (Or the RCA, or the PCA, or the SBC.)
Maybe some time spent worshiping with strangers will help you to experience that.
4/end
@Rivikah Oh this is so beautiful, thank you for sharing