The conversation concerning a life of faith and the church continues, thanks to Helen Mildenhall, Dean Lueking and others expressing their Viewpoints.

Churches, mosques, synagogues and ashrams set out to assist (evangelize?) people in finding their God-a fully human, relational perception of God.

Bill Moyers, journalist, reminds us that passions are stirred by claims of exclusive loyalty to one's kin, one's clan, one's church, one's nation-that ties that bind can also be twisted into a noose. Sibling rivalry for God's favor ends in violence and gruesome vengeance. Ideally, the church strives to overcome exclusivity and difference to unify all persons. Our religious institutions help those of us seeking to discover the mystery of God, the story of life and the question of death. We do church together.

Various prophetic spiritual leaders/teachers from many languages and traditions have translated and, over the centuries, refined this message of wholeness.

God's presence may be found in holy writings, prayer and worship practices-and also in the everyday challenges and interplay of life. For example, when one encounters simple, spontaneous kindness and generosity of persons, one to the other, without calculation of reciprocity (see Helen Mildenhall and Dean Lueking's caring-loving dialogue in recent Viewpoints).

Prayer (one's personal connection to the divine) can be as uncomplicated as recognizing that everything in our lives is given to us by the creator. And this awareness of divine life sustaining us, calls us to a deep sense of gratitude-the foundation of our inner life is this prayer.

Most churches hold that ritual and sacred moments in life's journey celebrate God's self-sharing of divine life (signs of God's grace, right here, right now!):

Birth: Welcome to the world and community (Baptism)

Coming of age: Awareness of share in divinity (Confirmation)

Forgiveness: Conscious awareness of our "dark side" (Reconciliation)

Life's calling: "This is my Body given for you" (Marriage, Ministry)

Nourishment: "I am the Bread of Life," eating, drinking, fellowship (Eucharist)

Sickness/Death: Overcoming obstacles, rising to new life (Final Blessing, Memorial)

Most of these "sacramental" times require the presence and participation of other people who care-a community. Church witnesses, one to another and together.

In our path of becoming, we companion one another by expanding and entering into each other's imagination and spirit life-sharing our life's failings, contradictions and synchronicities, telling our stories to each other, reminding each other of our capacity for love over resentment, our capacity for the infinite, in friendship and compassion. A community of believers partners in a questing, inner, personal spirit life.

This ongoing dialogue-my story-tells me that God is close to us, so always present. As I respond to the God-spirit within me (within us), then I will, in humility, further realize my own share in divinity.

Just like you and me, churches are divinely inspired and, at the same time, vulnerable to human failing. We are free to choose our own particular identity, our faith statement, in the evolving process of creation.

Richard Beeman
Oak Park