• HOME

• E Bulletins

• Church Worship schedule & Events

• NEWSLETTERS

• SPCA PROJECT

• Perry UMC History

• Our Spiritual Stories

• Cool Links

Celebrating the freeing, supportive presence of God.  So your experience of God may become your experience of life.  It is wonderful what God can do!

DISCOVER YOUR SPIRITUAL NAME AND CALLING

A WORKBOOK

Dr. Doug Wilson

CHAPTER III

DO YOU EVER FEEL LIKE A SPIRITUAL SECOND-CLASS CITIZEN?  

AN ANSWER

    One emotional issue deserves special mention because it is often a trip wire for persons struggling with trusting their spiritual identity. And example will help me explain.  I once visited with a woman who had just discovered her spiritual name, the experience of God that had been within her for a long time. She was  intrigued by her discovery, and I began to feel that we were getting spiritually  acquainted.  But then she began to tell me about her sister who seemed very religious, much more religious than she felt herself to be. The sister was a published author and my friend could not stop comparing her sister's seemingly superior religious experience to her own. It was as if her own spirituality wasn't "good enough."

    As I visit with individuals about their spirituality, if often seems as if they feel that their own religious experience isn't good enough. In their own minds, someone else's spirituality is always better, more real or valid.  Sometimes it is another member of the family, or a preacher or someone whose faith story appeared in a magazine. Comparatively speaking, their own faith story feels "second rate." I call this "spiritual second-class citizenship," a condition that makes it hard for us to trust our own experience of God.

• AN ANSWER.

    An answer to this dilemma lies first of all in trusting God and our experience of God. While we can borrow from another's spiritual experience, it is much more wonderful and personal when we trust what God has done, or how God has acted, in our own lives. God is that personal and wonderful.  Did you try out your spiritual name last week? If something came up that seemed to be a problem, did you ask God to let you experience God ( ie., blessing, strength, etc.) in regard to the issue with which you were struggling?  What happened? I know I sometimes forget to ask God when I could. Yet when I do, God comes through, and I find my experience of God validated and strengthened.

    Your experience of God is your experience. You don't have to explain it, apologize for it or feel put down because it seems less spectacular than someone else's. God has reached out to you in a way uniquely fitted to you, your need, your style, your personality.  One Sunday evening, I led two "Blessing Workshops" in the Portville United Methodist Church, one at 7 p.m. and another at 8 p.m. I asked each group of participants to think of any words they might use in association with God. The 7 o'clock group brainstormed; I wrote their responses on a chalk board. Later the 8 o'clock group thought of many words which I wrote on the back side of the same chalk board.  And guess what? While I had not been looking for this, there were no repeats. Both groups had chosen completely different words to associate with God, with the exception of one. You may have guessed it: That word was love.  After that experience I began to realize how many, many words are used in the Bible in association with God, particularly in the Psalms. I haven't counted them, I estimate that there are hundreds. Apparently each of these words reflects an individual's or group's experiences of God. If such was true then, could it be true today?  I believe it is. I believe we cannot limit God. God is all and more than every description or experience humankind could have. Yet, God is personal and unique to individuals as well. So don't consider yourself second rate. God doesn't.