KYGAL

I was in the section where we introduce ourselves but it was closed to further comment for some reason. I may still hold more traditional beliefs than some members would be comfortable with but as a "recovering fundamentalist/evangelical," I'm finding my way in new territory and am dealing with another theological shakeup in my thinking since Trump and COVID-19. I live in a red state and in an area where the Independent Christian Church and Pentecostal and Charismatic churches are the majority. I grew up in the Independent Christian Church but no longer accept all their beliefs. If you are unfamiliar with them, they split off from the Disciples of Christ a couple hundred years ago roughly. The Disciples were too liberal for them. I've been a United Methodist and Episcopalian over the years and right now would prefer Episcopalian but our local Episcopal Church closed over a Eucharist serving argument during COVID and we are wondering if they will ever open again. United Methodist Churches are only as progressive as the people in the area around them and ours leans toward the evangelical/southern gospel music tradition. The pastor strictly observes COVID protocols and has all but ordered the congregation to observe it and only about half of them do. He does not do politics of any kind in the pulpit and is very rigid about that. I suspect his political beliefs are quite conservative but he doesn't let that show. No one seems to believe the way I do anywhere but I probably have more in common with progressive thinkers nowadays and I guess I want to feel like I'm still a Christian anyway. I have looked at the UCCC but the closest one is an hour away and I'm approaching 68 and that seems like too much of an undertaking for me. I think I still hold some of the beliefs I always did but have turned from some of the absolutes. I still grant that God is omnipotent, all seeing, all knowing. I still believe in the divinity of Jesus and the Holy Trinity. I still see God as having more magical, if you will, for lack of a better word, abilities that defy logic and common sense for the rest of us. Everyone doesn't. What I don't believe in is the connections to God's beliefs and actions to some of the political planks I see in the religious right. I know an awful lot of fundamentalist religious believers who don't accept that either, a few preachers even and I love them dearly even thought I don't necessarily agree with all their religious beliefs. I've talked enough. I've pretty much written a book now.

United Methodist Churches are a reflection of those attending. I've been United Methodist since I was in my 20s and the church reflects the view of the area where it is. Where I live, most people are very conservative in their religious and political thought. Some make an effort not to have a political approach in ministry but they can't hide their attitudes. Our pastor works very hard to keep it out of his service and out of Sunday School. Currently, since the Delta Variant got so bad, about half of the church is masked and half not although he has done everything short of an order to encourage masking. He has social distancing and since we are in the orange, no singing. When we go back in the yellow, singing will be allowed. Political views of the people in the church are overwhelmingly conservative. In an urban area, you will find United Methodist Churches that have more progressive congregations and some who are conservative. Incidentally, the United Methodist Church keeps putting off the General Conference national meeting that is going to split the church in different groups and congregations will vote which group to align themselves with. Prior to the Civil War, slavery was the issue and the church split into North and South churches. In the 60s, they reunited, closed most but not all the South churches and added in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The South churches that remain don't function the way they did back then. Brooksville United Methodist came full circle as a church started by the KKK but no KKK is here now and the church had their first African American pastor a few years ago and she was a woman. So that was quite cool. If all this Covid stuff ever settles down and the United Methodist Church votes, this time they will be splitting on the LGBTQ+ issue and congregations will decide which track they want to be on. I look for most of the churches in Kentucky to stay with the current track. There could be one or two, maybe three that don't. I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere and it is VERY conservative here. The Independent Christian Church is strong and it is very conservative, no women in the pulpit, baptism by immersion only, communion every Sunday, etc. Where the Bible speaks, we speak and where the Bible is silent, we're silent, they say. Pentecostalism has grown in recent years here. It is not my way of thinking but I am not financially blessed enough to start a progressive church and it is too far to drive to one, 45 minutes to an hour to the closest UCCC. I'm older now and that is just too hard. Our local Episcopal church closed during Covid and can't come to a consensus on dispensing the Eucharist so they remain closed. There are several options they could choose but they don't. I wonder if they will ever reopen and if they are that rigid, would I even be happy there? So I keep looking to see if anything has changed but so far, nothing closer to me has appeared.