Not to go all christian-y on you or anything...

But the sermon today kind of got at the heart of why I chose the church I go to.

You see, I was brought up Lutheran, went to a Quaker college, and then spent significant time in a non-christian country.

I used to describe myself as a unitarian universalist, but now in my thirties I don't know how to describe my experienced-through-lutheranism, quaker-influenced, service-oriented, many-paths-to-the-truth views. Now I cop out and say "I'm Lutheran," because it's easier.

But today in the sermon, Pastor Knapp told a parable about a woman who lights a fire for the first time in a dark cave where people have lived in the dark and cold their whole lives. And the people turn away from the light because it is bright and hurts their eyes, and the dark, while cold, is comfortable because it is what they know.

They all run away back into the caves except for one person. The woman asks the one person why they didn't run. The person says "I like the light even though it's bright and hurts my eyes, but all my friends and family are back there. I don't know what to do."

And she tells the person to take a stick (now a torch) and bring the light back to his friends and family.

And that, my friends, is why I go to this church. Because their version of Christianity is all about doing works. It's about focusing on ways to bring light. And the way this church does it is not through proselytizing, but through free meals, food drives, house building in mexico, school supplies for 560 low-income families in southwest portland, making backpacks for migrant workers south of portland, letter-writing campaigns for fair limits on payday loan spending etc. etc.

And that is what it is all about for me. Not that I'm good at it or anything, but that's why I chose this church. They make it easy.