So...I'm finally back home after a lengthy "Day 1" to this Church retreat thingy I'm doing.
I hate to be a spoiler but... I don't think its really my bag. The GOOD thing is I have met some REALLY cool women of all ages.
If I have to sit and listen to one more crappy "Christian Rock" song I think I will vomit. I abhor that genre. I mean, it'd be one thing if, as a transition, between activities they played 30 seconds of a song and faded it out gracefully, but NO. We sit there like IDIOTS staring at the floor waiting for the song to end. Ew, that and all the hand-holding during prayers, excessive "folksy" singing, and this uber-goobery "laying of hands" crapola that the CRHP leaders do before one of the women gets up to speak.
I felt JUST AS uncomfortable as when, back in the early days of my yoga classes, we were expected to chant in Sanskrit at the end of practice. IT'S NOT MY PERSONAL CULTURE.
Me being the Rad Chick that I am, (sarcastic grin) I did spice things up in the beginning, though. We had to individually introduce ourselves with the following formula: Name, Spouse, Children, What you hope to get out of this weekend.
After each suburban mom got up and blandly stated, "I'm JoeAnn Schmo and I'm married to Joe Schmo and we have scads of baptized children..." it was my turn.
I identified my name clearly. Then I said, "I have to state here that I am not comfortable identifying myself as spouse-of-so-and-so. Its not my primary sense of 'me.' "
I continued by stating that I am seeking to organized the "spirit" side of the very critical mind-body-spirit connection in my life. That I practice yoga and am a novice triathlete and have recently made a personal commitment to rejoin the Church. I then noted that I have a husband and a daughter.
I was thinking I'd catch hell for playing the role of Andrea Dworkin-wannabe in the group but NO! Women came up to me later and said, "Wow! I really liked your introduction!"
Right on!
I also went to CONFESSION! *Gasp!* It was actually pleasant. Of course, it was super-chill Father Steve who gave the absolution. It was more like a quick discussion with a therapist (and FREE!) so heck, maybe I'll go check that out more often if/when something is bothering me. The penance he gave me was kinda lame, though. It was really vague and not applicable to my particular "crime."
What did I confess? Ahh, dear readers, that's between me and Fr. Steve...but I can promise you it had nothing to do with naughty backdoor pleasures. ;)
