(Jeff’s note: this is a dream I had last night)
“I didn’t know you were religous!” I said to him. After all throughout high school he never made mention of his religion, nor that he was a member of the church of Christ.
“I try not to mention it,” he said as he held a book critical of the church of Christ.
We were back in El Salvador driving around in an urban landscape trying to find the place we were staying at. And I was totally unprepared. Sure, I had brought my clothes and usual packing supplies. But I had forgotten my food, which usually sustained me throughout the week. This left me worried and anxious.
And now I look back at my real-life trip to El Salvador and find I never had a spiritual connection to those people around me. Somehow I got caught up my own digestive concerns and the filthiness of the environment, to actually notice the religious renewal happening around me. Am I a bad person for not wanting to join a group of Christians in a inpromptu song service just outside of our hotel? Absolutely not! And yet sometimes I feel those around me subtly make me feel guilty in times like those. You didn’t join us for the singing? You didn’t get a warm fuzzy feeling in your heart?
And my acquaintance in high school who never spoke of his religion? There are plenty of people like that. Some people just never make mention of their religion, even though they never take part in a sinful lifestyle. Sometimes I feel as though I’m falling into that retreat of refraining from outwardly showing my religious lifestyle.