Conflicted Feelings
Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2018 7:45 pm
Hi all, thanks for having this board. It's been great reading other people's perspectives and experiences. For full disclosure, I am still a member of the COC. Which is why I am posting. I feel conflicted about my inclusion (if you can call it that) in the church (see? I can't break the habit The. Church. haha). I was raised Lutheran and came to the COC about 12 years ago. My husband and I had been looking for a church and couldn't find a place that was a soft place to land. I signed my daughter up a the closest Mother's Day Out, and it happened to be affiliated wit the COC. The rest is history - we felt like we found our soft place. Interestingly, my dad was raised COC and was even the songleader in his church, but became an atheist. You can guess how that ended. Nevertheless, we loved our COC and put aside the stuff that was annoying, which I will go into further in a moment. Here was the great stuff: the warmest people we ever came across when looking for church home in spades, the beautiful singing where I literally could feel God's presence in their 4 part harmony, the sense of community, and the simplistic ceremony. And then the bad: judgment. so much of it. Not from every one, but people I cared about, and that was hard. For example, when I mentioned my oldest might go to a Baptist university instead of Harding, OC, Lipscomb, etc., my closest COC friend basically reacted like I said she would go to the School of Satan. Like, I feel like if she does go to that school I will have to lie and say she is somewhere else. And that is just crazy when you look at it from an outside perspective.
I got really wrapped up in the legalism, as one does. When me moved from Texas To California, it was difficult to find a COC, but we managed to find one. Of course, I chose the most conservative one because it felt like home and for reasons I don't understand, the people were warmer than the other more 'liberal' COC. And that has been my experience when traveling too, it's interesting. However, my husband, who was also raised Lutheran but became COC because of me, would not go after one visit. Just hated it. Me, being in the COC frame of mind, continued to take the kids, without him. For about 2 years. And in doing so, really alienated my husband and left him out something we should have been sharing. I know only COC people will understand why i just could NOT go to another 'denomination'. But now, after being on the verge of divorce and slowly making our way out of it (sidenote: the divorce was OK with COC because he was an adulterer. the end.), I stopped going to services. Although I listen every Sunday on podcast, it's not the same (to me and FOR SURE to them). But I don't want to go back without him, and I even if I did, I feel like heathen. It is so absurd, i know, because, if my husband wants to join us for church, just another church, I can't even entertain the idea? Yes, for 2 years, that is what I thought. And no one dissuaded me of this viewpoint except my wonderful best friend, who is non denominational, and was like, honey I love you, but that is not a logical thought process.
So here I am, 3 months out, every once a while have someone check on me from the COC. Don't return calls because don't know how to explain, because they don't understand. But still love the COC in Texas, and have my kids do stuff with them during the summer. It's much bigger, so I can blend a little more. I cling to the nonjudgmental ones. But as for here, I'm stuck. Thanks for reading and feedback.
I got really wrapped up in the legalism, as one does. When me moved from Texas To California, it was difficult to find a COC, but we managed to find one. Of course, I chose the most conservative one because it felt like home and for reasons I don't understand, the people were warmer than the other more 'liberal' COC. And that has been my experience when traveling too, it's interesting. However, my husband, who was also raised Lutheran but became COC because of me, would not go after one visit. Just hated it. Me, being in the COC frame of mind, continued to take the kids, without him. For about 2 years. And in doing so, really alienated my husband and left him out something we should have been sharing. I know only COC people will understand why i just could NOT go to another 'denomination'. But now, after being on the verge of divorce and slowly making our way out of it (sidenote: the divorce was OK with COC because he was an adulterer. the end.), I stopped going to services. Although I listen every Sunday on podcast, it's not the same (to me and FOR SURE to them). But I don't want to go back without him, and I even if I did, I feel like heathen. It is so absurd, i know, because, if my husband wants to join us for church, just another church, I can't even entertain the idea? Yes, for 2 years, that is what I thought. And no one dissuaded me of this viewpoint except my wonderful best friend, who is non denominational, and was like, honey I love you, but that is not a logical thought process.
So here I am, 3 months out, every once a while have someone check on me from the COC. Don't return calls because don't know how to explain, because they don't understand. But still love the COC in Texas, and have my kids do stuff with them during the summer. It's much bigger, so I can blend a little more. I cling to the nonjudgmental ones. But as for here, I'm stuck. Thanks for reading and feedback.