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A
Church
for
Your
Needs:
Leaving
Old
Church
Behind
By
Ellie
Harold
I
remember
the
first
time
I
didn't
go
to
church
on
Sunday.
I
was
fifteen.
It
was
1967
and
I
was
visiting
my
older
sister
in
Boston.
We
woke
up
one
Sunday
morning
and
no
one
said
anything
about
going
to
church,
so
we
didn't.
No
big
deal,
right?
Not
exactly.
Raised
Roman
Catholic,
I
had
memorized
the
Catechism.
It
was
a
mortal
sin
to
miss
Mass
on
Sunday
-
if
I
died
in
a
state
of
sin,
I
would
go
straight
to
the
fiery
pits
of
hell
forever.
I
spent
that
first
Sunday
away
from
church
wondering
how
God
would
strike
me
down.
When
nothing
happened,
however,
it
became
easier
to
not
go
to
church.
It
was,
after
all,
the
Summer
of
Love.
The
only
bells
I
listened
to
for
the
next
few
years
rang
out
from
the
Church
of
Sex,
Drugs,
and
Rock
'n
Roll.
Later,
when
I
became
a
minister,
I
realized
that
some
version
of
this
happened
to
many
people.
A
lot
of
us
wake
up
one
morning
to
realize
we've
outgrown
the
“old”
church
of
our
family
of
origin.
The
Search
for
a
Church
Yet,
even
though
I
left
the
church,
the
spiritual
longing
I'd
felt
since
childhood
continued
unabated.
The
fact
that
I
was
part
of
the
“love”
generation
didn't
seem
to
matter.
My
life
was
a
lonely,
meaningless
mess.
For
the
next
decade
or
so
I
became
a
spiritual
window-shopper.
In
college,
I
majored
in
Eastern
Religions
and
spent
more
than
a
few
evenings
dancing
and
chanting
at
a
Hare
Krishna
temple.
Later,
when
I
was
an
intensive
care
nurse
-
as
disillusioned
with
Western
medicine
as
with
the
church
-
I
went
to
crystal
workshops,
learned
psychic
meditation,
and
received
a
Reiki
initiation.
One
day,
a
friend
asked
me
to
accompany
her
to
a
small
Unity
church.
Although
I
balked
at
the
invitation,
for
three
years
I
went
regularly
and
listened
to
words
of
forgiveness
and
unconditional
love.
I
often
found
myself
in
tears,
moved
by
the
invitation
to
heal
the
wounds
of
my
past.
As
I
did
heal,
I
also
came
to
discover
the
power
within
me
to
create
a
new
life.
I
received
and
followed
a
calling
to
be
a
minister.
Looking
back,
I
understand
the
importance
of
this
type
of
church.
Like
a
nurturing
nest,
“transitional”
churches
offer
a
safe
place
where
we
can
belong
and
develop
healthy
self-esteem.
And,
like
baby
birds,
when
our
needs
have
been
met,
we'll
leave
that
nest
too.
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