What I wrote while day-dreaming in class...

I think about my faith as something that is lived out, explored, and formed through passionate discussion. I suspect some of it comes from my denominational affiliation – we like to have disagreement - part of unity for us is to have diversity. If we don’t have diversity then we aren’t truly unified. When we meet as a national association, we do not come to agreement on much, but we do agree to worship together. It is in and through our corporate worship, the recognition of those around us and their diversity, and the focus on our one God and our Savior Lord Jesus Christ, that we find unity. Our intellects don’t have to be in complete conformity and in fact conformity would be seen as interfering with the true practice of faith, but our worship must recognize the diversity. As a result, conformity in a church raises my pulse. It makes me uncomfortable. I want to run and flee when I hear a sermon that shouts “You must believe this” or I look around and everyone looks alike. I was taught “conformity is bad,” “diversity is good.” To me this sounds normal until I hear someone else share about their church experience and I realize that for others it is not normal and they seem to want me to conform.

(quick note: this isn't a typical post, b/c I wrote it while taking notes in a Corporate Worship class. Thoughts may change and this statement does not fully recognize that I do believe there is Truth and that Truth is knowable.)