A Preacher's Story

[qos]

Thanks to wlotus, who recently posted a link to a "A Story of Grief and Compassion" in her LJ, written by a man who used to be a minister and who is now working on the third floor of an office building. I found it sad, wise, and uplifting, and so I clicked back to the homepage of RealLivePreacher.

There, I found his story, which resonated with me on all kinds of levels. Part of it is my own story. Part of it is my father's story. Ultimately, it expresses most of the important aspects of my own journey in faith, from a warm and affirming childhood in a loving Christian church, through seminary, disillusionment, Dark Night of the Soul (although my Dark Night came before seminary), and out on the other side into an understanding of Christianity and faith that I could not have imagined before the terrifying initiation of the Dark Night.

It's well worth reading: http://blogs.salon.com/0001772/stories/2002/12/26/thePreachersStoryIn4Parts.html

The bottom line, which I loved, is this: Faith isn't something you have, it's something you do.

Comments

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

Actually, the story I posted about is one of RLP's fictional works. (His fiction is as moving as his real-life musings.) RLP is the pastor of a church, and he also has a web design company.

[qos.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the correction. I wasn't sure if he had been a pastor, had left the ministry and come back, was still not in a church but considered himself a pastor, or if it was fiction. It certainly rang true, even if it was fiction.

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

I think you'd like some of his retellings of bible stories, too. (They're in his blog.) They're pretty amusing, but to me they ring far more true than many of the sermons I have heard on the same stories.