Methodists Anonymous

Hi. My name is Joy. I'm a Methodist.

(Group: Hi, Joy.)

It all started a little over a year ago with the move across country to a new church. So, I guess I'm Methodist by default. I really had to join.

I've been a lot of denominations in my day, but this is my first attempt at Methodism. I've been (in order of appearance) Baptist, Evangelical Free, United Brethren, Church of God (Anderson, to clarify), non-denominational, Lutheran and now this. But, if you only want to count memberships (which is all that counts down here), I've only officially been Baptist, Evangelical Free and Methodist. And if you want to get down to basics, the Baptist church turned into Evangelical Free, so that's really only one membership...so, I've been Evangelical Free and Methodist. In my gut, I'm still Evangelical Free. That's where my heart is.

This group is really helpful! Let's keep processing...

Methodist has a bad connotation where I come from. I actually know for a fact that there were many prayer groups formed on my behalf the moment my mother started telling people in my hometown that my husband and I were joining a Methodist church. I had lost my faith! Methodist there means that you go because it's the place to be (other than the Catholic church), you're liberal, and your faith is something that goes skin deep on Sunday morning for about an hour and a half.

But the church that we joined here was going to be different from that!! A little over a year later, we find that we were almost entirely wrong. Our church is the place to be. The people that come are the popular, rich ones. Our church isn't liberal, but the denomination as a whole leans that direction. And our faith goes skin deep for exactly one hour and five minutes so that we can beat the Presbyterians to the best lunch spots. We've got methods and we're great at practicing them.

And somehow, I've been able to afford the membership fee for this country club. Somehow, I've been accepted as one of theirs. But it's only by default. If your husband gets a job at the country club, membership is one of the free perks. And you can forget trying to remodel or redesign the membership roster. It's impossible because it's not part of standard method procedures.

But you can tear at the wallpaper here and there. Just a little in this corner and a little in that one. Not everyone will notice, but some people will...and they'll like the new colors and design. But sooner or later, your heart's desire for a place that likes your design will cause you to move forward.

For now...My name is Joy and I'm a Methodist...by default.