So this past weekend I went on a "Singles Weekend Retreat #2" given by SFC NY & NJ. Without going into any details because I know how a lot of you pagans that I call friends feel about me joining a Christian charismatic group, I have to say that this weekend truly reinforced how good of an idea it was to join SFC.
SFC in general, and this retreat in particular, has helped me to see my faith in the most practical of terms. I'm learning how to be a Christian and live a Christian life-style in the real world by my peers and my contemporaries who are articulate and have a level of intelligence not normally associated with religious groups.
Blind faith this is not.
By the way, just to illustrate the atypical Christian group that gathered at the retreat, here's a list of what some of us talked about during just one meal. The conversation ranged from the pre-requisite subject of faith (how do I get my little brother and my secular friends to join or at least not see us as weirdos?) to 80's fashion (Lacoste is coming back) to the death of Optimus Prime (I cried and I'm not ashamed) to the political climate in the Philippines (we're not ready for democracy; bloodless revolution has solved nothing).
"Contemporaries, G?" you are probably thinking. "Peers? But dude, SFC is full of Filipinos. From the Philippines. You're an American." I'm Filipino-American, thank you very much. But yes, my culture is not their culture. Despite that, I've learned that (and I'm quoting an SFC sister Em-Em), "just like the Catholic Church, SFC is universal." And she should know; Em-Em lived in the UK so she's seen three continents worth of SFC.
My boy Ace said to me once after I joined SFC, "G you don't need that. You're already a good person. This is just going to reinforce it." In the context he was telling me this, he meant to say that I'm wasting my time. But he's right about the reinforcing part.
We could all do with a bit of reinforcing.
Posted by glenn at October 23, 2005 11:43 PM