Church in the Woods

I have decided to finally hit upon a subject that I’ve done my best to stay away from over the last couple of months.

Faith…

Religion…

Beliefs - or at least my own. 

So here I go.  Over the next couple of days I’d like to share my thoughts on the Church, Jesus and Prayer.  I am not trying to sway anyone in any direction.  But since I have shared much of my other thoughts, I feel like it would be remiss to skip this topic.

The Church in the Woods

My heart is there.  I go out in the midst of nature and I find peace.  Sometimes I even find discord, but it’s through those dissonances that I am able to work through stress and conflict that I often feel when trapped too long in the ‘civilized world’.  But more than that, I’ve found that it is in the woods that I have found a true place to commune and to worship.

My worship may seem odd to some.  I’m not going through the typical motions of singing a hymn, praying, calling out to God or any deity. I am NOT listening to any man stand and try and lead me.  No, this is a very different feeling altogether.  Through the aches and pains of growing up in the dysfunctional paradigm that is the Baptist Church, I found that there are feelings and emotions that pull at my heart, but that my faith isn’t chained to any of the standard fare of a Sunday morning worship service.  I’ve spent most of my Sunday mornings on top of Stone Mountain over the last 3 or 4 months.  I find that I do hear a voice calling out to me. Where I was dead inside when sitting through most church services, I feel a closeness to this creator/maker while alone or in a group of people among the trees that I have long ago lost in the buildings we designate “church”.

The Church in the woods is a place that I retreat to often.  I don’t know how to explain it to anyone unless they experience it for themselves.  I may never go through the doors of one of those erected buildings again.  That may shock and offend some, but I know that there was a time when there weren’t buildings of glass and stone that we can often think “houses” God.  I am not trying to sway anyone.  I just haven’t found the heart that beats as deeply or as clearly in any typical place of worship.

So I will still go to the woods.  I'll try to continue to listen to what I hear.  Both the sounds of nature and the spirits that I know whisper.  Maybe even hear God.  Who knows.  Can't ever hear unless you stop - take time out of the craziness around us - and breathe.