For a long time I've been trying to figure out a way
that our entire family can worship together. We live
about 40 miles from Messiah Lutheran Church in Danville where we've been members for a long time. This is a very long ride with small
children and surly teens and it takes two cars to get us all there.
Mostly Lora is broke and doesn't have enough gas to make the trip
anyway and the kids are pretty resistant to getting out of bed early
enough to make the 45 minute trip to church. One of the big reasons
I loved the Catholic Church was the fact they seem to be pretty much
everywhere within a short drive no matter where we lived.
We tried St. Paul's LCMS in Tracy - barf. We also tried Good Shepherd LCMS in Livermore, a bit better but still a weak liturgy and it's still a big drive over the hill. Mom went with me to St. Bernard's Catholic Church here in Tracy last week, but she really doesn't like that at all and disagrees very strongly with such things as praying to saints and Mary. To tell the truth I've never been comfortable with that myself, though I tried to make it work in my head, if you know what I mean.
Well, I think we've found our solution finally. Before I came to Messiah I had been going to St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Walnut Creek for years, and to Grace Cathedral before that when I still lived in the city with my Grandmother, it was only when I realized that the Episcopal Church had gone off of the rails and could hardly be called Christian any longer that I began looking for a new church home. I love Messiah, and I'm sorry we are so far away that it won't work long term for us. I have gone back and forth from Catholic to Lutheran as a result. Recently though I have discovered that there is a break away branch of the Episcopal Church called the Anglican Church in North America which is a faithful Anglican Church, unlike the ECUSA, and even more to the point there is a tiny branch church here in Tracy, Anglican Church of the Resurrection, pastored by Father Dondi, a Kenyan priest. Liturgically and also theologically I am very comfortable with the church, I downloaded and read their provisional catechism and found nothing I didn't agree with. Serenity's half brother and sister are used to the Episcopal Church so they understand it as well. I think it's the right thing for us to do, we need to be associated with a community that is close enough to us that we can actually all make it there. The whole family will probably go next week, Mom, Max and I went this week and we found the small gathering very welcoming. I'm excited by this to say the least :-)
We tried St. Paul's LCMS in Tracy - barf. We also tried Good Shepherd LCMS in Livermore, a bit better but still a weak liturgy and it's still a big drive over the hill. Mom went with me to St. Bernard's Catholic Church here in Tracy last week, but she really doesn't like that at all and disagrees very strongly with such things as praying to saints and Mary. To tell the truth I've never been comfortable with that myself, though I tried to make it work in my head, if you know what I mean.
Well, I think we've found our solution finally. Before I came to Messiah I had been going to St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Walnut Creek for years, and to Grace Cathedral before that when I still lived in the city with my Grandmother, it was only when I realized that the Episcopal Church had gone off of the rails and could hardly be called Christian any longer that I began looking for a new church home. I love Messiah, and I'm sorry we are so far away that it won't work long term for us. I have gone back and forth from Catholic to Lutheran as a result. Recently though I have discovered that there is a break away branch of the Episcopal Church called the Anglican Church in North America which is a faithful Anglican Church, unlike the ECUSA, and even more to the point there is a tiny branch church here in Tracy, Anglican Church of the Resurrection, pastored by Father Dondi, a Kenyan priest. Liturgically and also theologically I am very comfortable with the church, I downloaded and read their provisional catechism and found nothing I didn't agree with. Serenity's half brother and sister are used to the Episcopal Church so they understand it as well. I think it's the right thing for us to do, we need to be associated with a community that is close enough to us that we can actually all make it there. The whole family will probably go next week, Mom, Max and I went this week and we found the small gathering very welcoming. I'm excited by this to say the least :-)
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