Religious Differences

Perhaps the art of tolerance has been lost in this age of technology. This evening I felt compelled to get up from my roost and grab my daughter and go for a walk. Sounds sublime enough, but on our journey we transversed upon an old hang out of mine and found this.

A fire in a courtyard at the center of a circle.

Sure enough we had stumbled upon a bunch of hippies getting prepared for a full moon drum circle. What perfect timing. The smell of fresh sage being burnt mixed with the oak from the fire, who could pass that up on a cool foggy night? A lady welcomes us and informs us the shop up the stairs has drums we could borrow if we'd like to participate. Awesome.

So to keep the story short, I grabbed a couple of drums and found us a spot in the circle, took a deep breathe and released myself to the moment in time and started pounding out a beat as others slowly arrived and joined in tbe celebration. Yes, I know it was a pagan type event. Yes I know some may be distressed at my last posting praising the fact I had found a new church home. To that I might simply refer the reader to visit Luke: chapter 15 and simply ask if Jesus didn't in fact hang out with the hippies and pagans of the day Himself.

Relion is such a fickle thing. Spirit is another. Tonight I have to believe we were spirit led to partake of a meeting of souls celebrating life and enjoying companionship of their fellow humans. This one girl in particular, her energy was astounding. She would start pounding out a beat on her drum to the point where she literally broke out in to laughter. It was infectious. Soon the entire circle fell victim and the sound of the cummunion was, in a word, blissful.

The ceremony ended, the fire extinguished, the drums returned and my daughter and I slipped out the back up the stairs and climbed the short hill to level ground. Away from the courtyard now we could hear a couple screaming, fuck ... and something about children being molested and turned to the devil, followed by more going on about satan being alive and well.

It was most distressful. Here I thought for a moment, what a perfect evening, only to have it wrecked by two disgruntled idiots that for whatever reason thought it was better to yell and scream profanity at families with children than it was to take the higher road and sit down with the free loving peaceful pagans and hippies. I mean after all, what would Jesus do?

For the life of me I dont get it. Determined to not allow the two enraged couple rob me of my joy we simply went on our way and allowed the idiots to make complete fools of themselves and not engage them in any debate. But I have to wonder, which is worse, laughing and giggling in a celebration of life, or cursing and condemning, screaming profanity at families with children.

By no means am I perfect. I do believe in God, and that Jesus is the son of God. I believe also, how is it written, something like, He who began a good work in me will perfect it until the day of His return. Jesus Himself said He didnt come to condemn, His rules are simple, Love one another, Love God, do unto others as unto yourself. I fail to see how screaming profanity at others that believe differently than yourself does any good. Again it seems the wisest words are found in the scripture. Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord.

In closing I only wish to say, no matter what your faith, no matter what religion, Peace be with you, let love guide you and direct your path.