• notes from the farm,  Staying with the Church

    Why Would I Leave the CHURCH?

    A better question might be: Could I leave the Church? This imperfect, sometimes questioning, sometimes unloving, always searching, yet redeemed soul. Could I be free to leave the Church No. I have been sealed by the Spirit, bought by the blood of Christ, adopted into the Body of Christ which IS the Church. And, God help me, why would I want to leave? I have just finished reading Searching For Sunday; loving, leaving, and finding the church. The author has recently left this world in a very sudden and tragic illness leaving behind two little ones and a devoted husband. As I read, I learned to love the searching and…

  • The Gift of Community,  The Gift of Vision,  The Place,  Uncategorized

    Authenticity: The “Real I” and the “Real Thou”

      At fourteen, a few days before I turned fifteen, I had a crash-bang encounter with the Real Thou…and He spoke directly to the Real I.  Having been chosen at the last moment to replace someone on our Youth For Christ Bible quiz team, I had crammed for a week, trying to memorize scripture that we would cover in quizzes against other teams from our North Atlantic District.   We were going to represent our group at a large convention in Ocean City, New Jersey. This was a big deal…and I was scared.  By the time we got to Ocean City, I was not feeling well.  I got worse as the…

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