Read this.
http://rachelheldevans.com/overcorrecting
Last night for Dad's Day, I fulfilled a simple request from my dad to attend an event at the church I grew up in-the one my parents still attend. I wasn't happy about it. I don't always agree with their theology. I am uncomfortable with their all male leadership. I often become frustrated wtih a place that doesn't seem to have changed much from the way it was when I was a kid. Simply the idea of smiling at 200 people I would need to make small talk with was exhausting. But my dad doesn't ask very much of me, so I went.
I'm a jerk.
There were some amazing people there. The woman who led my Sunday School class when I was in the 4th grade. Families who watched me grow into my own person across a the last decade or so. People who have cared for and loved me through various stages of my life. Some of them wouldn't agree on exactly where I've landed in my faith. Some of them might have problems with my language or love of mojitos.
But who cares!?!?
In my haste to figure things out, reform my faith and make sure I wasn't one of "them," I've discounted their positive impact. They taught me things and helped shape who I am today. I think I've been in danger of "overcorrecting" as Evans puts it in her post. The solution-slow down, listen more, and speak less. I often laugh at the "younger" version of me that thought I knew so much more than my parents. Now, almost 30, I have so much respect for what they know, the choices they've made and what they've overcome. I'm still working through this when it comes to applying this lesson to my faith tradition but last night was a reminder that there is still much to respect and learn from them- even if we don't quite agree on mojitos.
"Those of us whose faith journeys have taken us from one tradition to another often struggle with overcorrecting. We can get so focused on what we don’t want to be that we lose track of who we do want to be. We rebel like angsty teenagers against anything that resembles our parents, our background or, worst of all, our old selves. And if we’re not careful, we’ll throw the best of these traditions out with the worst."