Title: Forgiveness Offered
Author: Stephen Whitney
Text: Isaiah 55:6-11
On November 28, 1994 Newsweek Magazine's cover story was titled, "In Search of the Sacred." Under the title it said,
"Whether it's middle age or the coming millennium or a bad case of the blues, Americans are on a quest for spiritual meaning."
The opening story was about Rita McClain's spiritual journey which began in Iowa, where she grew up in the fundamentalist world of the Pentecostal church. What she remembers most about that time were tent meetings and an overwhelming feeling of guilt.
In her 20's she tried other forms of Protestantism. Those, too, proved to be unsatisfying. By the age of 27, she had rejected all organized religion. For the next 18 years, she sought inner peace only in nature, through rock climbing in the mountains or hiking in the desert. That seemed to be enough.
Then, six years ago, in the aftermath of an emotionally draining divorce her spiritual life blossomed. Just as she had once explored the mountains, she began scouting her inner landscape.
She started with metaphysical Unity Church. It was light-years away from the OT kind of thing she had known from childhood.
The next stop was Native American spiritual practices. Then it was Buddhism at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center, where she attended a number of retreats, that included one that required
eight days of silence.
Now at the age of 50, she has taken parts of these different rituals and blended them into a personal religion of her own. She worships at an ever-changing altar in her room. In 1994 the altar consists of an angel statue, a small bottle of 'sacred water' blessed at a women's vigil, a crystal ball, a pyramid, a small brass image of Buddha, a candle, a Hebrew prayer, a tiny Native American basket from the 1850's and a picture of a madrone tree.
GOD'S INVITATION - open :6-7
These verses have the sound of a call to worship by a priest.
God ...
Author: Stephen Whitney
Text: Isaiah 55:6-11
On November 28, 1994 Newsweek Magazine's cover story was titled, "In Search of the Sacred." Under the title it said,
"Whether it's middle age or the coming millennium or a bad case of the blues, Americans are on a quest for spiritual meaning."
The opening story was about Rita McClain's spiritual journey which began in Iowa, where she grew up in the fundamentalist world of the Pentecostal church. What she remembers most about that time were tent meetings and an overwhelming feeling of guilt.
In her 20's she tried other forms of Protestantism. Those, too, proved to be unsatisfying. By the age of 27, she had rejected all organized religion. For the next 18 years, she sought inner peace only in nature, through rock climbing in the mountains or hiking in the desert. That seemed to be enough.
Then, six years ago, in the aftermath of an emotionally draining divorce her spiritual life blossomed. Just as she had once explored the mountains, she began scouting her inner landscape.
She started with metaphysical Unity Church. It was light-years away from the OT kind of thing she had known from childhood.
The next stop was Native American spiritual practices. Then it was Buddhism at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center, where she attended a number of retreats, that included one that required
eight days of silence.
Now at the age of 50, she has taken parts of these different rituals and blended them into a personal religion of her own. She worships at an ever-changing altar in her room. In 1994 the altar consists of an angel statue, a small bottle of 'sacred water' blessed at a women's vigil, a crystal ball, a pyramid, a small brass image of Buddha, a candle, a Hebrew prayer, a tiny Native American basket from the 1850's and a picture of a madrone tree.
GOD'S INVITATION - open :6-7
These verses have the sound of a call to worship by a priest.
God ...
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