What happens when liberal and conservative collide?

Short answer: You get me!

Long answer:
I grew up in a liberal household. My parents are "recovering" hippies. 'Nuff said. I lived in a very conservative town on the fringes of the Bible Belt. I had very different messages from my parents than the people I lived around and went to school with. How do you choose which point of view to follow?

In the beginning, I went with my peers. I followed friends to church. I went to every church in town's summer Vacation Bible School. That might have had more to do with my parents wanting me out of the house in the summer! I grew up in a tiny town(two stoplights--you'll miss it if you blink driving through!), and if you wanted friends your age, you went to church. In my case, I ended up at a local Disciples of Christ church. My family followed since my parents likewise wanted friends and the pastor and his wife were about the same age as my mom and dad.

Fast forward through living at a Methodist dorm in college and attending Southern Baptist services during college. In 2001, I was fortunate enough to be sponsored for a trip to the most fantastic religious community in France, Taize. Please, please go check it out. Link is here.

In Taize, I rediscovered the roots of my faith. I reveled in the simplicity of the services, the music, the way of life, the silence. It was a revolutionary experience. No church service will ever be the same for me again. It was at the same time both highly conservative and highly liberal.

Then I moved to Los Angeles. Talk about challenging your beliefs. You can only say that you hate the sin and love the sinner so many times before it becomes lip service. I love my friends. I am an unfailingly loyal friend. If you treat me well, I will bend over backwards to help you. I will loan you money, babysit for your kids, spend a week with you while your husband is out of town, do your grocery shopping, house-sit, whatever you ask without asking for or expecting any compensation. I do it for the pleasure of making your life easier and putting a smile on your face. Even if you don't treat me well, it takes a long time for me to get upset enough that I won't spend time with you any more.

So, there I was, a liberal. A liberal who goes to church. I found my church home at the amazing, wonderful, not enough explicatives to describe how great it was, Pasadena Christian Church. The pastor was great, and his family was vegetarian. I didn't have to "break people in" to get them to be vegetarian friendly. There were all types of people at the church, and they went all-out for high holy holidays. Not in a typical way, however. I learned about Labyrinth walks from them, and I think they're a great spiritual tool. I was very sad to leave them when I moved away, and can't imagine ever finding a church that feels as much like home as PCC did.

Now, I am back home to the conservative Bible Belt. I am way too liberal. People aren't sure what to make sure of tattooed, pierced, hippie me. If you meet me, say hello. I promise I'm really super nice. I haven't bitten anyone outside my family in a few years. I'm also on a journey to find a church where I feel at home, a church that embraces the conservative and the liberal in me. I hope you enjoy sharing in that journey.