Hi everyone! I hope you all are having a great start to your February. I'm writing today because tomorrow, Sunday, February 5, I am going to become an official member of the Congregational Church! I'm really grateful to have found this church. Through faith in Christ, I've met so many wonderful individuals there.
Finding the right church took quite a bit of time. When I was young, I attended a non-denominational church back in the Bay Area. As someone who did not like going to school, I at first dreaded going to church on Sundays. My family and I stopped attending around 5th grade because we felt their teachings were too harsh. From the summer before 6th grade to the summer before 9th grade, I attended a summer Christian day camp at another church near my middle school, 2 years as a day camper, 2 years as a staff volunteer. When I was staffing for them, they had us try to convert the day campers into Christians, in the name of "Spreading the Gospel", which I felt uncomfortable doing.
Both of these churches would try to drill in my head that 'anyone who doesn't believe in Christ goes to hell'. With most of my relatives on both my mom's side and my dad's side (including my grandparents) identifying as Buddhist and meeting so many kind individuals who did not identify as Christian, I started to question that statement. Even though I am a straight male, I also did not like how these churches had beliefs that marginalize individuals who identify as LGBTQ. As a man who embraces diversity and all religions, I personally feel that God loves everyone, not just those who identify as 'Christian'.
Surprisingly, when I share my tough experience at these churches to many Christians today, they tell me, "Oh, the stuff they are preaching is actually from the Bible." After they said that, I felt a little hurt, and felt that they didn't really validate my experience. From my experience, the Bible has taught me many important truths and lessons from Christ through his word, however, there are things in the Bible that I would question, "With the love and hope God provides to myself and many, would God really do this today?"
While I may not have had the best experiences at these churches, what encouraged me to continue to have faith and believe in my Lord and Savior are the love he gives me and the hope he provides along the way. I saw a Brazilian Healer who visited New York 3 times in my 5th, 6th, and 10th-grade year. These experiences helped me to see more of the spiritual side of Christ.
Anyway, back to the search, the search continued on, especially after I moved down to Southern California. Around 5th-6th grade, if you know me well, that was also the time when Walt Disney and my favorite Disney characters all inspired me to pursue animation. I was looking into Walt Disney's life and found out how his Congregational upbringing and faith had a big influence on the creation of his films. With that, I looked more into the Congregational Church and the Congregational way. What really resonated with me was the freedom of interpretation of the Gospel, the importance of individual conscience (Pinocchio), and most of all, the importance of a personal relationship with Christ.
So then, I looked into Congregational churches. From mid-2021 to late-2021, I attended a UCC (United Church of Christ) in L.A. virtually through Zoom. However, while I really liked how open and accepting they were, I stopped attending since I felt the talk on politics was too much there to the point where I started to feel worried every time I would attend a service. I also felt the Congregational Way at that UCC was not really being emphasized there. At the same time around December 2021, I started attending service for my current church, First Congregational Church of Anaheim, virtually through Facebook Live. I really valued Pastor Jim's sermons and how he emphasizes what it means to serve as a believer of Christ. As a result, in early March 2022, I started attending in person, and that's when I started to meet all of my wonderful church friends!
Ever since I started attending, I'm really blessed getting to know many there, including Jim Weddell (the DVD man who knows the son of Frank Thomas, one of Disney's Nine Old Men), Tom and his wife Susan, Pastor Emily and her husband Ricky, and Pastor Jim Schibsted and his wife Penny. While this church is mostly composed of older adults and seniors, everyone there I have met is very accepting with true love that comes from the heart.
Even when I do move to Los Feliz, or elsewhere in the Hollywood-Burbank area, I still plan to make the commute down when I can on Sundays to attend service at FCCA. Whether I end up attending just FCCA or 2 churches (FCCA and my wife's church), whether I have barely any time or a lot of time, I have faith that God will find a way to make it work out.
So tomorrow, I am very excited to become an official member at my church. Not only that, I am also going to get baptized for the very first time through sprinkling tomorrow, not because it is required (it's not required), but rather because to symbolize the dedication of my life to the Lord. I'll make sure to post pictures!
Thank you for reading my piece here. I hope you all have a magical evening! No matter what you may identify as, always know that you are very special and that there is something very special inside of you that the world is waiting to see!
I say this in Christ's name we pray, Amen!
