Many of you know that I have now "crossed over" to becoming a Catholic. :-) Well, I affectionally call myself a Batholic (Baptist-Catholic) as there are just somethings that a Southern Baptist girl can't give up--like wanting to just sing to the rafters or praying "outside the box" or just every now and then, wanting to just say, "AMEN!" Sweet, conservative Jack has tolerated me well over 16 years! But I have had more fun in the last year becoming a true part of a church again. If you "knew me when" I was a child/teenager, you know how HUGE a part of my life my church was. I didn't know how much I missed it until I had it back!
There are many things that I have come to just truely adore in my Batholic faith. The fact that so many of our traditions and ways of doing things are really Jewish is amazing (and something that I really feel I'll spend some study time on in the future). The fact that I literally get to come before the altar every week on my knees is at once humbling and freeing. To hear a congregation praying the same Lord's Prayer outloud everyweek is awesome, especially if I take the time to really listen and pray it, not just say it!
But there is one area that I think that the Catholic church is just now coming to the game on, and that's the personal study side of faith. I am all for men being the head of their families and churches, believing that God puts people in authority over us all the time. But as women, I think we're the soul of our families...the neck, to put it in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" terms. And I think it's time that Catholic women started getting a little personal with their God.
One of my Bible study group leaders/friend/mentor sent me this website (http://www.breakpoint.org/) from a Catholic man who became an Evangelical. His whole point of breakpoint.org is to begin to take away the disunity of the faiths, celebrating what we DO share in common! I've said for over a year now that if you talk, really talk, to people in leadership roles in the churches, we are not all that different from each other. The below is from an article about women needing to become a bit more familiar with theology. I send it to you to be able to confirm in yourself or in a woman in your life that her studying God's Word is not only GOOD but VITAL! And that's my soap box for the year :-)
James writes:
Knowing God is a woman’s highest calling and her most pressing need. What we know of Him, whether it is a little or a lot, is all we have to hang on to when the storm hits and we are being pulled into the downward spiral of worthlessness, despair, and defeat. It is also what energizes and guides us as we tackle the task before us—as mothers, daughters, wives, and friends.
It is what upholds a woman when a marriage engagement comes crashing down around her. It is what teaches her humility when she receives an unexpected promotion. It is what sustains her when she receives a grim medical diagnosis. It is what points her to gratitude when she watches her child succeed. It is what meets her in her deepest ache and her greatest hour. And it is what tells her who she is, in Him.
*************************
1 Peter 2:9
But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR GOD'S OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
Isaiah 43:1
But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine!
There are many things that I have come to just truely adore in my Batholic faith. The fact that so many of our traditions and ways of doing things are really Jewish is amazing (and something that I really feel I'll spend some study time on in the future). The fact that I literally get to come before the altar every week on my knees is at once humbling and freeing. To hear a congregation praying the same Lord's Prayer outloud everyweek is awesome, especially if I take the time to really listen and pray it, not just say it!
But there is one area that I think that the Catholic church is just now coming to the game on, and that's the personal study side of faith. I am all for men being the head of their families and churches, believing that God puts people in authority over us all the time. But as women, I think we're the soul of our families...the neck, to put it in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" terms. And I think it's time that Catholic women started getting a little personal with their God.
One of my Bible study group leaders/friend/mentor sent me this website (http://www.breakpoint.org/) from a Catholic man who became an Evangelical. His whole point of breakpoint.org is to begin to take away the disunity of the faiths, celebrating what we DO share in common! I've said for over a year now that if you talk, really talk, to people in leadership roles in the churches, we are not all that different from each other. The below is from an article about women needing to become a bit more familiar with theology. I send it to you to be able to confirm in yourself or in a woman in your life that her studying God's Word is not only GOOD but VITAL! And that's my soap box for the year :-)
James writes:
Knowing God is a woman’s highest calling and her most pressing need. What we know of Him, whether it is a little or a lot, is all we have to hang on to when the storm hits and we are being pulled into the downward spiral of worthlessness, despair, and defeat. It is also what energizes and guides us as we tackle the task before us—as mothers, daughters, wives, and friends.
It is what upholds a woman when a marriage engagement comes crashing down around her. It is what teaches her humility when she receives an unexpected promotion. It is what sustains her when she receives a grim medical diagnosis. It is what points her to gratitude when she watches her child succeed. It is what meets her in her deepest ache and her greatest hour. And it is what tells her who she is, in Him.
*************************
1 Peter 2:9
But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR GOD'S OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
Isaiah 43:1
But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine!
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