the church of christ can't steal me, cuz "i'm so glad to be a methodist" ****

Well, its official. I'm a United Methodist. Really at this point it was just a formality to actually join the church. I've been going to this same church for about a year and a half now. I really wanted to join to seal the deal, especially since the church is about to go through a lot of transition with the pastor leaving. Also, because of my work with many local churches, people always ask me if I'm a Methodist or not and it will be nice to have an answer! Finally, since I go to multiple services and am occasionally tempted into thinking maybe I should instead be a UCer or even a Unitarian, I just wanted to seal the deal before someone tries to make me an actual bribe!

It was so nice to have people welcome me and say nice things. It's really a great church and I feel lucky to be part of such a caring community! Last week in adult education for example, I admitted that I have no 401k. I was the only one there not concerned about retirement, apparently, since afterall, I'm only 26, right! Well today after church an older gentleman from the class come up to me, grabbed my arm and said "Maria, I have been worrying and praying for you all week! You don't have a retirement plan and I am as concerned about that for you as I would be for one of my own kids". I almost started to cry! I just couldn't believe how much this person cared about me!

It was so nice to go out with my good friend Marcy and her parents after church. Lots of jokes about learning the secret methodist handshake, getting my club card and lots of "best wishes with John Wesley" (which is funny, since I am quite a Wesley fan, otherwise, I wouldn't have ever come to the Methodist church in the first place! I guess it just feels nice to have this settled so I don't think about well, "should i join the church or not" so much. I even had a few seconds of cold feet after christian education class, where the class had spent the morning talking about veterans and supporting the troops. Not that I don't support the troops or anything, I just felt, well, immersed in diverse opinion, how's that? But it's okay. I don't have to agree with everyone. Diversity, difference of opinion, being exposed to a multiplicity of viewpoints is good in the end.

In general I am doing a lot better. Looking forward to playing softball in a few weeks, nervous about basically not being able to go to church for a few months though because of my new weekend job. But what I will refer to from here as the "recent boy drama" aka "turns out the guy was a phenomenal jerk" stuff has subsided. The only time my faith doesn't work is when I forget about grace. I get so wrapped up in doing good deeds, people telling me I am such a great person, I start to feel maybe too good about myself, and then when I really fuck up (and not even on purpose) or when something goes wrong I wonder why it is happening, am shocked. It's grace and undeserved mercy from God that motivates me to help people, to be engaged in my community. It's not because I am a good person! And it's grace and mercy from God that I should allow to comfort me when I screw up, or when other peoples actions out of my control affect my life in a painful way. Easier said than remembered!

****not sure if those are the lyrics to the "go methodists" song or not, but i still think it is too funny that there is a song like that!