I don’t want to talk here about religion, I just want to talk about faith. From what I saw this week end in San Francisco (and I really don’t know if I can generalize, as SF is such a special place!), American people have a really demonstrative way of showing their faith. And surprisingly, I loved it.
On Sunday morning I went to Glide Memorial Church, as advised by my travel guide (I’m still such a tourist!), to attend a gospel celebration. But what I found there was a communion of really happy people, only linked to each others by their “faith”, even if they really don’t seem to have the same definition of that. After some amazing gospel songs, a lady in a beautiful and sexy suit (no idea who she was) started to speak next to the reverend about the values of Glide Memorial Church: absolutely everyone is accepted (religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity), as God loves everyone unconditionally. In France, this may sound as a marketing speech, but in SF, when I looked at the crowd gathered there, I promise that it was a concrete proof of what she said: homeless people, traditional American families, people from all nationalities and all ages…. Then a gay man started to speak about the future workshops of the church: “how to be happy as a gay or a lesbian” and spoke about the “management of the difference” in today’s world. It was really good to see that there is such an acceptance, even if I’m sure that I won’t find the same kind of church in the Midwest… So, even if at the beginning I thought that this kind of faith is a bit weird as, in my education, basically if you are Muslim you don’t pray the same God as if you are Christian, I rapidly realized that if faith is aimed at making people happy (even if I don’t agree with that definition), then Glide Memorial Church has probably understood the key message. I sang hand in hand with diverse people, I was hugged many times by people I didn’t know anything about, and at the end I felt like these people had found some kind of comfort in this place, and it made me happy to.
By the way, for all my friends who read that and are getting worried because I’m usually so cynical, don’t worry, Glide Memorial Church is not a cult, or at least I suppose it isn’t since it is mentioned in my travel guide!
I managed to record an extract from one of the gospel song ( I know that I’m an incorrigible gospel fan…), so just enjoy this really short podcast!
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I feel the same . In France it could be a marketing thing or something but over here
there’s a certain zest , enthusiasm and togetherness……..
I find your writes varied and topical , will certainly come back to catch up …
Thanks a lot for this nice comment. I really appreciate when people give me feedback about something I noticed. You are very welcome to come back on this blog!