community/christianity/camino

[John Topping]

Dear Andrea,
I have been reading your e-mails with interest.  I can see that you are
searching.  I am glad that you relate in some way the Camino with the
Christian faith.  I was intrigued that you wrote that when your mother died
you explored the Mormon religion - is that your only experience / is that
what you base your experience of Christianity on?
I can only speak for myself, but to me being a Christian is not about the
religious practices of different groups of people, it is about my own
personal relationship with God - something that I hope, for me, will
continue grow and develop during the Camino.  The Camino is built on the
faith of generations who have walked it believing in the power of God to
transform and enrich lives, to heal and to forgive (plus I'm sure many other
motives).  Could it be that your longing for community and desire to be a
part of something better is a longing for communion with God.  If you have
faith in God you will never be lonely.  God created you and cherishes you -
if you seek God on the Camino - I'm sure you will find him (or her).  It may
be in the companionship you find, a kind word, or deed, the beauty of
sunsets or the magnificent creation of the heavens and earth.  (In the words
of Martin Luther King - God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but in
the trees, and flowers and clouds and stars).
Andrea, I wish you well on your Camino it is my prayer that you will be
enriched, encouraged and that you will have a full experience of the love
and grace of God - that you will be protected and guided and find peace.
Marion.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate,
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light not our darkness that frightens us most.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that the other people around
you
won't feel insecure around you.
We are born to make manifest the Glory of God that is within us;
It is in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.
And we are liberated from fear
our presence automatically liberates others.

Nelson Mandella's Inaugural Speech 1994.

----- Original Message -----
From: Andrea Innes-Michailov <andreaaCORP.IDT.NET>
To: <GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2002 9:13 AM
Subject: community/christianity/camino


> I long to believe in something and have a community of people to help make
> life manageable
> or maybe I just want to believe and have life be more manageable
> church life CAN provide that and has for many many people
> When my mother died I explored the Mormon religion briefly
> Well, I think Christianity has been watered down quit a bit, some for good
> some for bad
> and in truth we have some pretty serious people in the world who would
like
> to see it perish (Sept 11)
> Have you read Loving God  by Charles W. Colson?
>
> THAT is a fabulous book about Christianity
> I need to read it again
> Perhaps it's message about making christianity an act, not just a belief
is
> more where we are all losing ground
> a society like ours that promotes self centered gain can only get lonlier
> and lonlier
> maybe that is why the Pilgrims go back to Santiago again and again, for
that
> sense of community, that belonging feeling.
> as I asked before, what would the belief system have to be in order for
> someone to stop what they were doing to HELP someone else?  WHAT ABOUT THE
> BELIEF SYSTEM THAT IT IS OK TO NEED HELP?
>
> ANDREA
>