Today another puzzle piece fell into place.
I've been struggling with my church for weeks. In fact, every week I've gone there I've found myself sitting in the sermon cringing and wondering why I still go to the church. Don't get me wrong, the people are very very nice and I'm sure they love Jesus very much. But for someone who loves theology, indeed who breathes theology, the simplistic and sometimes slightly bad theology was too much to take. I am the first to say that the gospel is simple enough for a 5 year old to understand and yet complex enough to study your whole life and never full grasp the immensity of it. But the teachings at this church were too, well, let's just say they weren't for me. I loved the social aspect of the church. I met so many Koreans there and I loved going out to lunch with them afterwards. But given my own personal state, I knew that I needed to be in a place where I was being fed spiritually, even if that meant being in a church that is mainly expats. So Sunyoung and I went to a church called Jubilee today. We went to our old church first, then grabbed lunch, and headed over to the 1:30 service at Jubilee. And you know what? I really liked it. I mean, the head pastor wasn't there today, it was a guest preacher who is all into speaking in tongues and what not. But honestly, the talk about tongues was nothing was because the rest of his message was so good. It wasn't legalistic at all. It was a breath of fresh air. The service even included communion. It's been weeks, maybe even months since I've had communion and I have to say, as one who loves to draw near to the Table, I miss it. It is such an important part of worship to me, once a quarter or even once a month is not enough. After the service, a group of us went out for what is called "Bread Breaking" which is basically just a group of whoever that goes out for lunch or coffee. The group of us, 10 in total, went out to a Pho noodle place. Since Sunyoung and I had already had lunch we just got juice while everone else ate. Then, in good Korean style, we all slowly ambled over to Dunkin Donuts for coffee. Then, because Koreans just can't seem to let the day end, we walked around the city a bit more. Our group had windled down to 7 by then, but it was still a fun time. Sunyoung and I were attached at the hip all day, and it was really nice to have a friend with me as we met all these new people. At one point in the afternoon, Sunyoung pulled me aside and asked if I was going to go to Jubilee now instead of our other church. I sighed and told her that I really liked Jubilee. She smiled and agreed. We decided that next week we would go to Jubilee instead. It feels really good. I have struggled with the issue of my church since I got here. I am really excited to be at Jubilee. It seems like one more puzzle piece is falling into place.
I've been struggling with my church for weeks. In fact, every week I've gone there I've found myself sitting in the sermon cringing and wondering why I still go to the church. Don't get me wrong, the people are very very nice and I'm sure they love Jesus very much. But for someone who loves theology, indeed who breathes theology, the simplistic and sometimes slightly bad theology was too much to take. I am the first to say that the gospel is simple enough for a 5 year old to understand and yet complex enough to study your whole life and never full grasp the immensity of it. But the teachings at this church were too, well, let's just say they weren't for me. I loved the social aspect of the church. I met so many Koreans there and I loved going out to lunch with them afterwards. But given my own personal state, I knew that I needed to be in a place where I was being fed spiritually, even if that meant being in a church that is mainly expats. So Sunyoung and I went to a church called Jubilee today. We went to our old church first, then grabbed lunch, and headed over to the 1:30 service at Jubilee. And you know what? I really liked it. I mean, the head pastor wasn't there today, it was a guest preacher who is all into speaking in tongues and what not. But honestly, the talk about tongues was nothing was because the rest of his message was so good. It wasn't legalistic at all. It was a breath of fresh air. The service even included communion. It's been weeks, maybe even months since I've had communion and I have to say, as one who loves to draw near to the Table, I miss it. It is such an important part of worship to me, once a quarter or even once a month is not enough. After the service, a group of us went out for what is called "Bread Breaking" which is basically just a group of whoever that goes out for lunch or coffee. The group of us, 10 in total, went out to a Pho noodle place. Since Sunyoung and I had already had lunch we just got juice while everone else ate. Then, in good Korean style, we all slowly ambled over to Dunkin Donuts for coffee. Then, because Koreans just can't seem to let the day end, we walked around the city a bit more. Our group had windled down to 7 by then, but it was still a fun time. Sunyoung and I were attached at the hip all day, and it was really nice to have a friend with me as we met all these new people. At one point in the afternoon, Sunyoung pulled me aside and asked if I was going to go to Jubilee now instead of our other church. I sighed and told her that I really liked Jubilee. She smiled and agreed. We decided that next week we would go to Jubilee instead. It feels really good. I have struggled with the issue of my church since I got here. I am really excited to be at Jubilee. It seems like one more puzzle piece is falling into place.
Comments
didnt know they had halloween in korea!