Happy one-month anniversary to me!; and, Church

Look at us, married a whole month. :-) I celebrated this morning by putting the wrong kind of contact solution in my eye and searing off my cornea. Well, not really, but that's what it felt like. It was like putting acid in my eye. See, this is why I'd pretty much given up on wearing contacts. My DH is celebrating by having to work late tonight, so apparently this day is a wash all the way around.

On Sunday, I did something I never thought I'd do. I went to church. Voluntarily. Remember that "Who's Jesus?" conversation I had with my stepson some months ago? Well, if we're not going to be able to raise him ourselves, we're going to have to sneak some parenting in on the every-other-weekend we see him. You know, stuff like how to comb his own hair, how to make his own bed, how to make his own sandwiches, how to interact with other kids his own age. You'd think a ten-year-boy would already have learned that stuff at home, but not this one. So I figured if I got him to church once in a while, I could kill two birds with one stone: basic religious training plus hanging out with other kids his own age. If he made a friend or two here, even better.

There are two churches on the corner near where I live: an Episcopalian one and a non-denominational Christian one. I picked the non-denominational one. It was actually nice. Everyone was super-friendly, there seems to be a bunch of stuff always going on (hikes, dinners, field trips, etc.), and no one made me drink the Kool-Aid. I spoke to the guy in charge of the kids' programs and got a good vibe from him. And the congregation was suitably mixed (not all white people).

I've had a, shall we say, complicated relationship with organized religion. Growing up Baptist left a bad taste in my mouth--so much of what I got in church was exclusionary, misogynist, and needlessly dogmatic. Here are some direct quotes:

"Catholics will go to hell because they're idol worshippers."

"Women can't be preachers or deacons because they're inferior. Plus Jesus only had male disciples."

"Gay people can choose not to be gay if they really want to."

"The Bible says, 'Worship God in everything you do.' That means if you listen to regular rock music and not Christian rock music, you'll burn in hell."

"It doesn't matter that Jesus drank wine, good Baptists don't drink and don't cook with wine. Drinking is a sin."

"Jesus doesn't want women to work. If you want to make Jesus happy, you'll get married and have lots of babies."

And my personal favorite: "We don't have black people in our church because they have their own church. They're happier with their own kind."

There were many, many more reasons why I ran screaming, but I'll save those for another rant.

So far this church seems much more open-minded. Maybe it's a California thing, but I'm sure it also helps that it's non-denominational and not Southern Baptist. The sermon was on that old Baptist chestnut, "Wives, submit to your husbands"; and the pastor took it and gave a rational, contextual, historically accurate sermon on why that was politically revolutionary at the time and a big fat piece of crap now. So, so far, so good.