Loved hearing about your experiences with going to other churches. Brilliant writing! It’s fun to attend other churches and meet good people of other faiths. I believe we have much more in common than is often realized.
I absolutely love this, Kimber..! You are incredible! What a beautiful journey you’re on… I love all that you are observing and learning. I, myself, have learned and experienced many of the things you are discovering (via alternate routes, of course — reading your thoughts and the thoughts of others being one them!). The older (and hopefully wiser) I get, the more I realize how universal the human experience is… I find myself again and again sighing with ease as I read your writings, and think to myself, “oh the nuances of life….” Thank you for sharing your journey publicly. I have found great value in reading your experiences.
Aw, thank you, Sarah! Glad to hear you like to read what I write. And YES… I keep coming back to the necessity of nuance! Visiting all the churches like this exposes the cracks (and the beautiful parts) of humanity and religion.
As for our move, it’s kind of big… but we are moving to Thailand!! We are planning to be there for ~6 months as we begin our IVF journey out there. 🥲
I love your account of your explorations! The Methodist pastor’s reply 🥹 🥰 I have found a lot of peace in my local Presbyterian community (PCUSA - there are two branches of Presbyterianism and they have different flavors). I love a congregation that acknowledges the ebbs and flows of the spiritual journey. Have you read Richard Rohr’s Universal Christ? He goes into more detail about atonement theories and my mind was absolutely blown to discover that the theory I had been taught all my life was capital T Truth was in fact just a theory that originated in the Middle Ages and Jesus and his followers wouldn’t have recognized it!
I’ve spent some time church-hopping this year too. I’m still avoiding Baptist denominations because of the whole inerrant bible thing, but it’s been fun to see all the same human behaviors playing out in other religious spaces. It’s made me less mad at Mormonism’s bad parts.
Still on the visit list: Catholic Mass and Bahai.
If you could take out the certainty in religious spaces, they’d sure be a lot better, wouldn’t they? What happened to exploring mystery?
I love this so much Kimber! And may I just say—you are so brave!!! I thought me stepping into one single non-denominational church was so brave and scary, so that’s enough bravery for me for the year haha. I loved living vicariously through you in this church hopping journey and I think it’s so funny the different reactions you got from people regarding your Mormonism affiliation. There is something so sweet about coming from a Mormon background and being able to have kind of a bird’s eye view of church and religion. It’s like I’m a brand new baby but I’m also no longer afraid of teachings because I just know that I am loved and worthy no matter what. It is kinda fun to just explore :) oh and also the standing!!! I 💯 agree that is the worst part of that type of service.
One of the gifts of deconstructing is this ability to approach other religions with the birds eye view! And the newfound trust and love in yourself. I’m so proud of you for trying!!! It does require a LOT of bravery to dip your toes into something new!!!
Loved hearing about your experiences with going to other churches. Brilliant writing! It’s fun to attend other churches and meet good people of other faiths. I believe we have much more in common than is often realized.
I absolutely love this, Kimber..! You are incredible! What a beautiful journey you’re on… I love all that you are observing and learning. I, myself, have learned and experienced many of the things you are discovering (via alternate routes, of course — reading your thoughts and the thoughts of others being one them!). The older (and hopefully wiser) I get, the more I realize how universal the human experience is… I find myself again and again sighing with ease as I read your writings, and think to myself, “oh the nuances of life….” Thank you for sharing your journey publicly. I have found great value in reading your experiences.
Also, where are you moving to??
Aw, thank you, Sarah! Glad to hear you like to read what I write. And YES… I keep coming back to the necessity of nuance! Visiting all the churches like this exposes the cracks (and the beautiful parts) of humanity and religion.
As for our move, it’s kind of big… but we are moving to Thailand!! We are planning to be there for ~6 months as we begin our IVF journey out there. 🥲
I love your account of your explorations! The Methodist pastor’s reply 🥹 🥰 I have found a lot of peace in my local Presbyterian community (PCUSA - there are two branches of Presbyterianism and they have different flavors). I love a congregation that acknowledges the ebbs and flows of the spiritual journey. Have you read Richard Rohr’s Universal Christ? He goes into more detail about atonement theories and my mind was absolutely blown to discover that the theory I had been taught all my life was capital T Truth was in fact just a theory that originated in the Middle Ages and Jesus and his followers wouldn’t have recognized it!
I am halfway through Universal Christ! Learning about different atonement theories was so impactful for me, too! So endlessly interesting to me.
This was such an inspiring read! ❤️
Thank you, Grace! 🫶🏼
10/10 will come back and read again hehe
I thought of you while writing this ✨
I’ve spent some time church-hopping this year too. I’m still avoiding Baptist denominations because of the whole inerrant bible thing, but it’s been fun to see all the same human behaviors playing out in other religious spaces. It’s made me less mad at Mormonism’s bad parts.
Still on the visit list: Catholic Mass and Bahai.
If you could take out the certainty in religious spaces, they’d sure be a lot better, wouldn’t they? What happened to exploring mystery?
“Less mad at Mormonism’s bad parts” is exactly what I feel, too! It’s helped me see that we get to choose our crazy, in a way. 😂
I love this so much Kimber! And may I just say—you are so brave!!! I thought me stepping into one single non-denominational church was so brave and scary, so that’s enough bravery for me for the year haha. I loved living vicariously through you in this church hopping journey and I think it’s so funny the different reactions you got from people regarding your Mormonism affiliation. There is something so sweet about coming from a Mormon background and being able to have kind of a bird’s eye view of church and religion. It’s like I’m a brand new baby but I’m also no longer afraid of teachings because I just know that I am loved and worthy no matter what. It is kinda fun to just explore :) oh and also the standing!!! I 💯 agree that is the worst part of that type of service.
One of the gifts of deconstructing is this ability to approach other religions with the birds eye view! And the newfound trust and love in yourself. I’m so proud of you for trying!!! It does require a LOT of bravery to dip your toes into something new!!!