Invitations

"What have you got to lose by coming? In fact, you have everything to gain!"

This was the question contained on my friend's note posted on the wall of their domicile, which most probably served as her open invitation to everyone in their extended household to come into a special church service - a testimonial church session (if you can call it that) - of the church she attends to lately. It almost felt like the same when she invited me to come to the same event; It actually feels like it every time I get invited to that church (it was only my second time to come to that place, by the way). Well, it was not a kind of church service that I was used to and grew up with. If you would ask me, I would honestly tell you that it ranks among my "alive, alive" religious service category. The kind where people are singing and dancing (more of swaying) to the tune of the outdrawn shrill tune and rhythm of the band in front them, as their way to show their praise to the Guy Above. It baffles me seeing people do that on a church but that is, of course, not to take anything away from this kind of church. It is just that I get sort of an eerie feeling about it which I (I guess) am trying to understand more until now. The same feeling that I also sometimes get from our church/religion (which is Roman Catholic, as my personal records state) every time I learn more about Catholicism, or whenever the priest celebrating the mass delivers an out-of-this-world homily, or out-of-my-world for that matter.

I guess it all lead to the realization that I am not the most devout person in the world. Way far from being one. My family and the environment of my early age contributed to it, I think. One of my folks (guess who) came from a province which is regarded to as highly religious, went to an influential catholic school in their region for his college education, got to be a sacristan and a lay minister in catholic churches back on his teenage life, and has been profoundly involved to a religious minority which traces its root to his native land. The other, meanwhile, also came from a province polluted with faithful Catholics but is a far offshoot an indigenous lineage, and has deep superstitious views in life. When I was still young (younger than I am today), our whole family use to go to church together every Sunday until not soon after, our visits gradually became few and far between. I’m not sure why but maybe the stiffness of time got the better of them. Growing with parents who had diverse orientation about faith, it really is not hard to understand why I am introspective to the idea of faith. It has its turns, actually. There came a time when I could consider myself pious enough that I thought of faith as personal more than abstract. But most of the time, it's the other way around.

On a related note, another friend hit me with an invitation to go and accompany him to a catholic church. Being the sleepy (a very big understatement) person that I am, I answered him back with the uncertainty of my coming, not because I do not want to go but mostly really just because I get pass my bed late(another understatement) on weekends. Mainly, because I can't help not to be a nocturnal (need I say more, another understatement) a person when I know I am set to have a good long sleep ahead of me. What makes this part not so digressing from the topic is that this invitation was nixed by another friend, whom I relayed the invitation to, partly because of the nature of the place we should have gone - a catholic church. But personally, I really would have gone with him if I woke up earlier (f.y.i, I woke up hours after the meeting time).

To patch the two situations more, let me repeat the first statements of this note: "What have you got to lose by coming? In fact, you have everything to gain!"

The very reason why I entertain attending in services other religious structures is because (aside from not letting up the people who sent the invitation) it could serve as a good avenue to discern their existence. I've been to a pretty much to a short gamut of church which ranges from a typical catholic, to a protestant, a methodist, to some other religious minorities in the country. I would also be willing to join other religious sectors (although only a small number of group for now, i.e: Buddhism, Islam, and Hinduism) on one of their homage if given the chance. My thing here is, Why can't there be just one religion (okay, I bet that wish was too heavy). How about – why can't every religion stop engaging on a tiff like bunch of siblings bickering over a lollipop? Do people, "devoted" to a certain religion, really need to sling mud to the other side of the fence just to make their own lawn look better?

While I believe in a higher being, in an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent persona, I still have a lot of questions about the diversity of religion, the structure of human religion. The mere fact that people term the Almighty differently. The quarrel between who or what "formula of faith" is superior, and what should be veered away from.