Back in church!

I have joined the local First Baptist Church after a few years of going off and on and another few years of not attending at all due to working retail. When you work more than one job in retail because you live in an expensive city, there is practically no such thing as having Sundays off. Not even if you don’t work Sunday morning and have that time open. If you get done Saturday at midnight, by the time you wake up for church, you haven’t had enough sleep. That’s how it works for me at 49. If I try to get up after sleeping five hours, my body normally will overrule me.

Time to get back into serving, learning, praying, Bible study, singing (I like to sing but apparently am not good at it), learning, serving, socializing, encouraging.

If you think being a Christian is about attending church during Sunday school, Sunday morning service, Sunday evening, and Wednesday evening, you’re barely scratching the service. God wants us to be busy “preaching the Gospel” by serving Him.

As I left church, I saw a playpen two-thirds full with diapers, clothing, bottles, nursing supplies. No doubt, the playpen will become even more full. As I looked at the playpen, I saw what the donations are for: an organization that acts as an abortion alternative by serving needy mothers and pregnant women. THIS, ladies and gentlemen, is how you demonstrate how you are pro-life. You certainly don’t do it by shaming knocked-up women or single mothers.

I’m only half Baptist, so I won’t be using this flag anytime soon. I believe in all three, but it’s a little too over the top for me. And besides, Baptists aren’t the only denomination with Christians in it.

Am I a better person because I attend a Baptist church? Absolutely not. I identify as a Baptist in the sense that I believe baptism should be done after you’ve come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and have repented of your sins. However, I reject the legalism that is rampant in Baptist circles. There are Christians in many denominations. I identify as half Baptist and half Non-denominational. I prefer the Christian flag over the Baptist flag. And as I joke with dear friends who are Calvinists, the only two forms of Calvinism I believe in are my late uncle, Calvin Goade (born and died in 1930), and the cartoon Calvin and Hobbes.

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