Quote:
Originally Posted by Favorite Jeans
From what I have seen, few communities can match churches (and equivalent places in other religions) for lasagna. That sense of support and belonging can be truly invaluable. Indeed, I think that this is where much of my parents' lasagna crew came from.
I am not a religious person in the sense of being a believer and have often been (or at any rate felt) marginalized within the religious community in which I grew up. However, I am actually going to give it another try this year for the cultural/ritual/tradition aspects (somehow deeply ingrained despite my atheism) and for the sense of community.
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There are churches that are not traditional protestant denominations. I'm not that familiar with them, but it seems like the Unitarian Universalist churches (somebody correct me if I'm giving the wrong name) are more about finding your own spiritual path rather than the traditional Christian route. Might be something to look into; I'm just not all that familiar with it. I'm in a very moderate (some would even say liberal but I think that might be going too far) major protestant denomination that is very welcoming, very non-judgmental, not exclusionary.
I grew up in church. Mom was the organist, so we pretty much were there all the time. It was a very close-knit family of support, and fortunately we have found much the same in the church we are members of now (same denomination). You just have to look around until you find a church that feels right for you if that's the route you pursue. For us, it is about so much more than just the church services, and when I isolated and withdrew because of my depression and other issues, it left me feeling very alone. I finally regained the courage and motivation to return and am so glad I did. My sons and I all sing together in the choir, and therein is our little circle of family within the church. It's kind of cool because the oldest member is 88 and my 16-year-old is the youngest. We like the multigenerational aspect of that interaction.