Final: part 3

I did church crawl the next week. I went to a yuppy church near my apartment. This is one of those churches were there's one old couple, but everyone else is 20-30 somethings. The opening hymns were played by a rock band. I had to give them credit for being great musicians--even if they were the type of Christians who creep me out. They seemed to be of a self-righteous bent. These are Christians who are frustrated because they limit themselves to tools and beliefs that don't seem to be working for them. They react through a sort of hardened orthodoxy.

The other creepy thing about the 20-something churches is the sexual chemistry in them. It's clear that many people in attendance have a guilt-ridden relationship with their own sexuality. At church, everyone is as chaste as a statue--but those in attendance gave a vibe that the night before could be a different story for many of them.

To be clear - I am polyamorous, I am sexually liberated though not particularly experienced. I harbor no judgment about their sexuality. I am noting, more than anything, the vibe of hypocrisy.

So just FYI, I'm keeping detailed notes and statistics about each church I visit. I after the rock band finished I made a mental note to give this church a low rating on the "trite attempts to be cool" category.

I had to say, though, the sermon was incredible. Honestly, one of the least hypocritical, real sermons I have ever heard. And apparently that was the "backup pastor." Their ace is supposed to be even more incredible, says the only man over the age of 50 in the congregation. He informed me that he had "the fire" and liked to see this much passion for the Lord in today's young. I asked him about his kids, he said they turned out very devout, and now he was "working on" his grandkids. I told him that sounds creepy. We laughed.

Still, I missed the Quakers.

That evening, I went to the Friend's evening meeting. I'm kind of afraid of getting saturated too quickly on Quaker stuff. I'm kind of trying to reduce my contact so that I'll maintain my enthusiasm. Then again, it's unhealthy for me to block myself. I might as well just hang out with them as much as I want. Ok, decision made.

Anyway, so I went to a meeting. Only two middle-aged ladies and I showed up. We sat in silence for an hour. They both spoke. I said nothing. I wanted to say that "I feel at home." I will get to that in another post. The sun was setting as we were finishing, coloring the plain smoked windows. Tree leaves brushed up against the side as well--it looked like a watercolor painting with a broad brush.

We hung out for an hour afterwards. Both seemed centered, although one had a strength and centeredness that dwarfed the other. The other had a bubbliness that crowded out the quieter one with a stream of words. Both were lovely, but I worked to get both to speak about evenly. We spoke about our religious experiences. Again, the simplicity, the willingness to listen struck me.

We sang hymns for an hour and gave each other hugs in parting. That was one of the most lovely evenings I have passed in a long time.

UPDATE, 2011-09-10: It's worth mentioning that one of the two ladies from this post died last year. I'm really going to miss Sue, even though I moved away. Here is what I wrote after I learned of her death.

I think Sue took some huge strides to improve her life in the few years before she died. I'm glad her last years were a taste of how powerful she is to live how she wants to. I didn't know a ton of details but what I knew was very inspiring to me. I'm sad we won't get to see where those changes would lead. I suspect it almost certainly would've been somewhere very interesting and inspiring. It would have been a real pleasure to watch her life continue to blossom. That is a very sad part about this for me.

Sue was one of the first people I met at meeting. I don't think anyone could say she lacked in heart or good intentions. I do not cry easily--in public or private--so I always took inspiration from her vulnerability.

I think we meant so much to her life, Friends--our meeting as a whole and our individual friendships with her. I think she cherished us as much as we cherish her. Although we're very imperfect, I think we made many contributions to her life to be proud of. Right now I'm most proud of Sue. I think she was living what life is all about.

Peace to all who read this and peace to all who care about her.

Montreal, QC