Line Up Them Ducks - Part One

 As the saying goes: “There is more than one way to skin a cat. But no matter how you do it, the cat is still ticked off. “

“Getting my ducks is a row” is another expression. It’s more positive. And, no ducks are hurt in the process. The ducks in particular like this, or so I hear.

Tonight, I am not sure what to write or even where to begin. This will probably - hopefully - be the first of a series of blogs. I say “hopefully” because over the past year so much has flowed through my heart and my brain that, even though it has resulted in a positive outcome, I feel the need to put all the loudly-quacking ducks in my head into a row and lay things out in a somewhat orderly way - for others perhaps, but primarily for myself.   Writing, for me, seems to be the surest way to do that, whether journaling, songwriting or blogging (I actually have written a song about this that I will be performing in my acoustic duo in 2013).

So I will start in the moment, and move backwards from there. After nearly 38 years as a committed, seminary-trained Protestant, I am about to begin attending the church of my youth (which I formerly and vehemently rejected), the Catholic Church.

(Note: I avoided casting myself as leaving “Protestant Evangelicalism”, because I am still firmly evangelical.)

Why do this?  That’s what I hope to address in the coming weeks/months.  For sure, I have a lot of company here – folks much like me who have made this very same move. I am also aware that some people who I know and love are a bit confused by my decision. It’s exciting to me, so naturally I want to be able to share it and articulate it well, but not to proselytize, ever.  I have no interest in changing anyone’s mind on the matter – only to aid in understanding.

My decision has to do with several elements that I intend to lay out in greater detail. In no logical order whatsoever, they are:

ü  A deep tug on my heart toward liturgical worship

ü  The flow of church history

ü  The importance of doing church in one’s own community

ü  A love for the contemplative tradition that was born and grew in Catholicism, and the path it offers toward spiritual growth

ü  The knowledge that this is the church from which all others have sprung, (checkered as its history was at times – the church is both divine and human) and the sense of connection to believers on whose shoulders I stand.

It’s been the spiritual, emotional and intellectual equivalent of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, but I like where it has brought me and am at peace with it, though leaving my current church is not something I do lightly. I have made friendships there that are important to me and that I want to see continue. It is a warm, wonderful church filled with great people and I have become close to many of them.

Yet, I still don’t know where I’ll begin with the next installment. Whichever duck is quacking the loudest, I guess.