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Letter to a Church-Weary, God-Leery Friend

Published by
dangilliam
at April 10, 2007 in Letters. 3 Comments

This is my experience. This I know to be true:

Deep in our hearts, buried in the core of our internal being, we have a space for the Divine that can only be filled by God. Many theologians and philosophers, artists and writers have said this before me. I know it to be true from my own journey into the spiritual experience. I hear people talk about it almost daily.

After a lifetime of church-based instruction about God there came a point (when I was ready and not before) when above all else I desired something larger than the teachings about God that I had generously been given by my fellow man; I longed for something greater than someone else’s testimony of God. I was tired of knowing things about God but not knowing God. I made a decision to move beyond the beatitudes and platitudes that I had been hand-fed my entire life. I did not need any more answers. I needed God.

So I left the church in search of God. Armed with nothing but a bitter taste in my mouth of what I did not want and a wisp of faith that God was capable of revealing God’s true Self to me through whatever means necessary, I launched out on my journey. This was my dark night of the soul; this was my mustard seed genesis that has grown into a tree-sized system of belief and action that governs my every move and decision.

There are many among us, and I was one, who have heads full of the knowledge of what the scriptures say about God, but who have very little sense of what it is to lead a God-surrendered or Spirit-filled life. I was taught much of what I knew about God by people who were quite possibly agnostics; at least they seemed unsure of what they believed when you got them down out of the pulpit where you could touch them, look them in the eye, and ask them questions. I find this to be true today of some of the loudest and most confident-appearing preachers. They seem to be preaching in order to convince themselves to believe. I don’t have a problem with this but I do think it’s ridiculous to let only one doubter, the one getting paid to be there, do all the talking in church.

Doubts are part of what makes faith authentic. “I believe, now help me with what I don’t believe.” (Mark 9:24 paraphrased) People who have biblical answers for every situation make me nervous. I prefer to hang out with spiritual seekers who are not uncomfortable with questions and who can laugh at the oldest of the sacred cows. Sacrilegious humor in my opinion is the most soul-cleansing.

Do not worry about the language you use when you seek God. God can handle it. Do not feel as if you must envision the person, the man, or the mystery of Christ for him to become real to you. Instead, let the eyes of your spirit look up to see God in the everyday wonder of life and contemplate whatever goodness you experience. God will meet you there and bring you to the highest forms of truth in God’s good time. For the time being, anything that brings you a sense of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control is the Spirit of the Almighty growing new life inside of you. Embrace these with your heart and soul and let your mind fend for itself. God has no difficulty in revealing who God is to those who earnestly seek God.

Let your fears fall from you, especially those that grip your heart and lead you to hold on to temporal and material things. Focus on love and fear will flee. God is love. Fear is self. Spirituality explores the freedoms of God; religion attempts to contain God and control what people think and believe about God. Religion costs money. God, however, is free. Though it may work for you, you don’t have to practice a religion to experience God, especially if it has been a source of bondage for you. And while you may have to work through feelings of guilt and shame because of your decision to leave it behind it is not all that difficult to do.

As Paul Simon sang back in the 70s, “…just drop off the key, Lee, and get yourself free.”

This is my experience. This I know to be true.

Dan Gilliam

Author of “God Touches: Finding Faith in the Cracks and Spaces of My Life”

www.dangilliam.net

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0784719632/


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“…a more simple and meaningful means of relating to God.”

Published by
dangilliam
at March 9, 2007 in Letters. 1 Comment

“Like many before me, I had to quit my traditional church
experience altogether before I could stumble into a more simple and
meaningful means of relating to God. What has been surprising about
this journey is that since peacefully disassociating myself from the
church of my youth and young adulthood (leaving behind much of my own
worthless bitterness and judgment) I have discovered that I am quite
as much a part (maybe even more so) of the Church that I grew up
hearing about but never knew where to find. This Church is nothing
less than the union of Christ-centered beings who believe that people
are more important than material possessions, that time well spent is
more significant than hard-earned money, that conspicuous consumption
is a poor substitute for spiritual poverty and that the joy of
creativity conjoins us at the Siamese soul of our Creator. This
Church is the fellowship of all believers who are willing to follow
the mandates and mores, the direction and dictates of a personal
Supreme Being (often referred to as God) as He chooses to reveal
Himself one day at a time. There are no impossible laws to obey or
complicated ideas to understand, only a pure acceptance and practice
of the truths common to all world religions: love God and serve
others. The path to this relationship with God is littered with much
letting go of old ideas and showered with the blossoms and blooms of
new freedom and fresh grace. There are millions of believers
traversing this sea of faith, many of whom do not know or see it, but
who none-the-less, because of Christ, are experiencing the bon voyage.
Some of us are even daring to enjoy the ride.

“Interesting to some of my Christian friends but disturbing to
others is my belief that there are innumerable souls (Moslems and
Buddhists, Christian Scientists and Mormons, Pagans and witches,
agnostics and atheists, etc.) who are likely benefiting from the
miraculous life, atoning death, saving resurrection and bodily
ascension of Jesus Christ but who do not lay claim to the title of
‘Christian’. They are progressively being saved on the non-linear
timetable of a Higher Power and not by the clocks of the conservative
churchgoer who might be disappointed to see some of them (us) in
Heaven. These are not people who decidedly or consciously have
rejected the Name, Person or Work of Christ, though they may for any
number of reasons deny an association with a church or modern
Christianity. I am talking about people who are seeking God, as they
understand God, to the best of their ability in a form that works for
them in real life and real time. They seek a ‘version’ of God who has
either been introduced to them along the way by saints with
attractive lifestyles or who they believe has found them in the midst
of their searching and placed them on a higher plane of living. This
god, that responds to prayer, revels in worship and reveals His
true nature through contemplation of life, love and literature is
no less the same God that countless Christians claim to be theirs.
This is the Alpha and Omega, The Beginning and The End, The Great Is
and Is To Come who will one day unite all who honestly seek God under
the Name that is above all names, the King, The Lord, The Messiah.
Jesus the Christ.”

Blessings on your journey with God,

Dan Gilliam
www.dangilliam.net

The above is an excerpt of chapter 27 (of 30) from Dan’s new book,
“God Touches: Finding Faith in the Cracks and Spaces of My Life”
It is available for purchase here:
http://standardpub.com/Quick_Links/Meet%20Our%20Authors/Dan%20Gilliam.asp


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