Why do I consider myself an "Emergent" - My search for another way.

Where am I ? Where should I go back?

Here there was turmoil, now a mountain of debris.

And, where the field was flat,

gravel makes my way.

I go up and down in vain;

Where will I cope with my sphinx?

Mefisto.

As a Christian liberal or a liberal Christian or a non-Orthodox Christian (none of these expressions work fully for me), I've been asked countless times if I walked away from both the perimeter Christian name no longer applies to me.

I believe that my journey is not far from the base of the faith of Jesus in any way, but that is directed to it.
As a liberal Christian, I believe that is in my journey back home, not due to return, but due to move on.
And it is a home that should be recognized, I think, at least in part, even the most traditional and Christian
Orthodox who is also seeking him. It's something we have in common. Let me describe it. In this home we seek, God is a palpable presence that gives depth and meaning to life. Because of this depth and meaning,
people in home care each other, forgive each other, accept each other, hug each other. This familiarity, this
community, gain the courage to do things that otherwise could not do. With this courage, along with
others, I am called to seek justice, work for peace, and protect those who are most vulnerable. And in the midst of this search, and in the midst of this work, I find a faith that is not religious piety, but
a deep and strong security that everything will be fine, calm down there, a hope beyond my deserving. And one more thing. In this home, there is room for everyone. All.

As I said, is a vision of home that I share with most Christians with ... in fact, most people on Earth. Like
most people of the earth, longing for it. These are deep human desires, basic and fundamental. The search for home is my life journey. Do you recognize this? But there is a problem. I can not get there by road from
my grandparents took. Or the road that many other, more orthodox Christians, have taken. I can not even get home taking the same road that I took when I was younger.

First and foremost, I can not get the home on the road that suggests that Jesus is the only way or that
Christianity is the only true religion. For me, at least, this road is banned, closed forever. Even if I wanted - and I do not - could not make my heart, my mind, my soul, accept that God could be so unique and arbitrary as selfish as to confine the revelation, or salvation, the one religious tribe. God, to me, is greater than
this, and less conveniently in my control would conclude by saying that the religion in which I was born is the only true religion. I want to get home, like everyone else. I get home, the essence of what
Jesus taught. But the path of Christian exclusivism is banned. I need to get home by another
way.

Second, I can not come home the way that requires me from making the revelations of science to

the revelationsof religion. If the road signs say "No evolutionist this road," I can not take that path.

If, on the old road, older ideas about gender and sexuality can not incorporate newly discovered facts of biology and psychology and social sciences, this path will be closed for me. If this road, the voice of reason can not be in dialog with the promptings of the heart or the whispers of faith, will be lost. Like everyone else, I would be
at home, at home I described earlier. But the path of anti-science, anti-intellectual, I do not get you anywhere. I need to get home by another road.

I can not get home on the road where the significance of the cross is that God requires a blood

sacrifice and that a person pays the price for the sins of another. I know that the "atoning sacrifice" as this doctrine is called by some, is a road that I walk a lot, and find God, and feel safe. I respect that. It was a way by which I myself have trod in my childhood. But I can not take over this road. That God seems now to be abusive
and arbitrary, and more than a collector lover of humanity. I believe that the cross still makes sense as a symbol of how love triumphs over human cruelty, and as a symbol of immeasurable courage. I deeply, find the home where the love and courage are present, and where can imitate them. But I can not get there via the
old road. I need to get home by another road.

I can not get home via the road that suggests that personal salvation is the most important goal in life and
personal morality is the most important value. I just can not imagine that the whole enterprise of religion is whether I personally will get to "heaven" or not, whatever it is this "heaven". The moral issues that seem
urgent, and for which I imagine God concerned, are the great questions of wealth and poverty, war and peace, power and justice, and the only salvation that makes any sense to me is the salvation of all creation, not just my own. I want to be in that home where salvation is real, but I can not get there by the way which sees it as a test
or a procedure or a process of elimination. I need to get home by another road.

I can not get home through the biblical literalism of exclusivism or canonical. At some point of the day,
punched the ground of scripture with my shovel, and discovered that there is much more down there than

can be seen on the surface. At some point in my journey, the writing was opened to me like the shell of an

egg, and despite being much messier, more difficult to handle, I realized how rich and nutritious it was
when it looked unquestionably true but not true giving. Plus, I discovered that the "shell" around the writing, which defined that would be written in the Bible and which would be rejected, was not as strong as I thought it was. I found passages in the Bible where the spirit of God's voice seemed far away, leaving the words without any sense ... and found next to the Bible passages that seemed to vibrate with that
spirit. I know that Scripture is a home for me. I love many of their environments, their hidden passages,

the way evokes memories and family stories. I want to go there. But I can not get there through
textual analysis. I need to get home by another road.

I know there are those who say, even with kindness and love, "Look, if you can not get home through the
old road, you'll never be able to get home." But Jesus said, on the other hand: "Seek and you shall find. Knock , and the door will open for you. Ask and you will be given. I think there is another road,
another path that leads home. I can not say that every step of the way is clear. Life is not so simple. But I'm looking for, and I trust I shall find. I'm hitting and I think the door
will open for me. I'm asking, and I have faith that I will be given.