[Faith-talk] Church experiences

Fri Sep 11 09:40:41 UTC 2015

It's obvious, if anything, that I'm getting started with activity in my 
church. The good thing is that Sovereign Grace churches are everywhere, 
so if I moved to Phoenix, I have friends there who could take care of 
stuff. Turns out the associate pastor intern here is brother by blood to 
a pastor in Peoria, Arizona. Weird? Well, it gets better. I also know of 
several other people in Sovereign Grace. Who knows about Joni and 
friends? I am planning to work with Joni and Friends, but I have my 
reservations about going out of country without real safety measures. My 
church might send me somewhere, but right now, I'm enjoying the 
possibility of singing in choir, as I have done that the best. My 
friends at my church are great singers, and honestly, I'm a soprano. 
Now, I am going out of my comfort zone.
As to the small town thing, Rob, I can relate. Titusville had the same 
issues. Debbie, may I ask what happened to Charlotte? I can sort of 
guess, but don't know enough, but I don't think it will ever be the best 
city to live in for visually impaired people, and neither will 
Titusville. It doesn't have a bus system or Medicaid care companies that 
can help with stuff I don't feel confident about such as reading, making 
sure there are no bedbugs, etc. We also don't have low income, so I'd be 
stuck at home with Mom and Dad. I have lived there for 23 years and 
don't wish to go back there again. I wouldn't mind however visiting 
small towns, but the problem is transportation as all of us have pointed 
out. Rob, whatever your choice, I'm struggling with this too, but 
whatever choices you make they will always have consequences, and yes, 
even if the cost of living is low, you have to factor in the 
friendliness of the place, as Debbie pointed out. I like the atmosphere 
of Denver, always have, always will, but right at this moment, I'm 
having a decision making issue with regards to my boyfriend's family in 
Arizona, but I want to be a better asset here before I walk into Peoria 
or wherever. That's my decision as of now, and that's because we're not 
married as of now, and we do have to work on stuff, we may need some 
counseling due to mental health concerns that have been misinterpreted 
by my boyfriend, so yeah, but it also revolves around whether he can get 
a job. Colorado DVR is driving me nuts, so I may move, but then I have 
to factor in what a psychiatric job rehab service here has to offer.

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On 9/11/2015 1:11 AM, Ericka via Faith-talk wrote:
> Thank you for your nice responses Debbie, Papa bear etc. So many times I feel almost guilty for having positive experiences. I feel so sad when I hear about negative experiences as such a place where our calling as Christians or any faith community is to make others feel welcome and share faith and fellowship together. Though it's not explicitly said most faith traditions have a rule similar to the golden rule. Sadly we break this one  disabled or not. Bless you for you are all my neighbors. I only hope to be a good neighbor. I know I am not a perfect one!
>
> Ericka Short
> "Friends are like flowers in the garden of life"
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Sep 10, 2015, at 12:18 PM, Poppa Bear via Faith-talk <faith-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>
>> Erica, I enjoyed hearing about your Church experience. It makes me want to go down the street about a mile and fellowship at the Lutheran Church. One of my daughters attended a preschool program there a few years ago and I really connected with the pastor on both a friend and scholastic level. He was a jovial guy and he and his family lived behind the Church in a Parsonage/Pastors home. That is rare to find in this day and age, many Pastors couldn't imagine having to live on the Church property and be that committed to all of the related aspects of responsibility that a living situation like that would bring, but I myself think that it would be ideal.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Faith-talk [mailto:faith-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Ericka via Faith-talk
>> Sent: Wednesday, September 09, 2015 10:35 PM
>> To: Faith-talk, for the discussion of faith and religion
>> Cc: Ericka
>> Subject: Re: [Faith-talk] Church experiences
>>
>> What a great question and I've been watching the responses. I've been pretty blast silly years and been excepted pretty well into any congregation I've been a member of. Like many others I've done some church shopping in my time. We have to keep in mind when we respond hear that our experienceis just that. Every community – city and faith community are different. I've had better luck with the Lutheran Church is I've attended than anyone else as far as being welcomed and included in activities. Growing up my UCC congregation was willing to let me do most anything. Catholic, baptists, and fundamentalists either wouldn't have anything to do with me or wanted to fix me. They didn't want me just as I am. I believe Jules would want me just the way he made me and that's why I bailed among other reasons. It disturbs me that I see church members treating visually impaired differently than the totally blind. I've had this experience many times with my boyfriend who lost his vision later in life. I was a new person to their congregation in Madison. He had been attending this Baptist Church for a year. Nobody really came up to him and spoke to him at all except the pastor. A couple here and there came up and said hello Shook his hand and then walked off just as he was trying to engage in conversation. However they did speak to me and asked me questions about him like he doesn't exist or couldn't speak for himself. 12 years ago I could see my congregation doing this but I am very proud of them they have never done this to any blind friend I have brought to church with me. Not that I didn't have to fight or charm them into understanding that I was quite capable and had a calling from God to share talents with them. In my current ELCA church (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) people joke that I've done almost everything but preach. Well, it's almost true since I've taught Sunday school for all ages, served on several committees, submitted proposals for Service projects to council which were amazingly excepted, began on homebound Ministry to shut ins, volunteered to be a part of the process to find a new pastor, and gave children sermons when we were between pastors a few times. I'm not as involved as I used to be because I am planning to move, but as one person said on here quite a while ago your actions and attitude sometimes affect how you are welcomed in a congregation. St. Paul's Lutheran Church has been incredibly wonderful to me but I have tried so hard to give back as well. God has truly blessed me by putting me in this congregation. I have lots of good friends who are willing to pick me up at the bus station when I come from out of town, they call me when they're going to the grocery store asking if I need a ride, and we do fun things as well. I went from nobody talking to me either from being asked to be at church council and having to turn it down. Nothing changed overnight and I'll tell you there was a lot of prayer involved in these years of how to ask. God gives you what you need and how to ask for it as well as how to be active in your congregation at the right time. Now most of my time is spent lectoring, assisting with communion/eucharist, and being my congregations representative to an interfaithfaith-based human rights advocacy group which the pastor actually sought me out to do. God works in mysterious ways we have to remember that. I can't wait to see what he believes I can do next. I certainly know it will not be singing in the choir!
>>
>> Ericka Short
>> "Friends are like flowers in the garden of life"
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>>> On Sep 8, 2015, at 11:03 PM, Rob Kaiser via Faith-talk <faith-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> I will do that, but I don't believe Victorville has such a program. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll call the city tomorrow.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Rob Kaiser
>>> hm#(442)242-7044
>>> email;
>>> rcubfank at sbcglobal.net
>>> -----Original Message----- From: tina sohl via Faith-talk
>>> Sent: Tuesday, September 8, 2015 7:56 PM
>>> To: faith-talk at nfbnet.org
>>> Cc: tina sohl
>>> Subject: Re: [Faith-talk] Church experiences
>>>
>>> Rob, we have a cab subsidy program in our area and wonder if there's
>>> something similar for you if you haven't looked, maybe asking the city
>>> about it. We can a certain amount of money load  a month to get
>>> specific dollar amounts loaded on a cab card that we can use and the
>>> city we're subsidizes the rest. It does help some. have you looked in
>>> to such a thing? it might be worthy it.
>>> Original message:
>>>> There are busses but the service is very limmited on sundays & like
>>>> the pera transit service, they stop @8 pm on week days & 5 pm on
>>>> weekends. Cabs are just very dificult to get & II as I wrote before, they are very expensive.
>>>> There probably is another church but it would be further away &
>>>> possibly harder to get to as far as  transportation. Victorville is a
>>>> great town in may instances, but it isn't a good place for disabled
>>>> individulas. Right now, because of my limmited income, this is where I need to live.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> Rob Kaiser
>>>> hm#(442)242-7044
>>>> email;
>>>> rcubfank at sbcglobal.net
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: tina sohl via Faith-talk
>>>> Sent: Monday, September 7, 2015 11:23 AM
>>>> To: faith-talk at nfbnet.org
>>>> Cc: tina sohl
>>>> Subject: Re: [Faith-talk] Church experiences
>>>> Are there not buses or cabs there? are there other churches you can
>>>> try? We have so far found our new church to be a very positive change.
>>>> Itt's not easy, but we felt restless and like things werent going
>>>> anywhere so felt god urging us to try somerthing else and so far it's
>>>> been very good.
>>>> Original message:
>>>>> Since I moved up here to Victorville, I have had a not-so-good
>>>>> church
>>>>> experience: I wanted  to join the choir but because of the lac of
>>>>> public and pera transit up here,  I needed rides to and from church.
>>>>> Not a one person has come forward to help  me in this endever.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>> Rob Kaiser
>>>>> hm#(442)242-7044
>>>>> email;
>>>>> rcubfank at sbcglobal.net
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: Roanna Bacchus via Faith-talk
>>>>> Sent: Sunday, September 6, 2015 11:24 AM
>>>>> To: Faith-talk,for the discussion of faith and religion
>>>>> Cc: Roanna Bacchus
>>>>> Subject: Re: [Faith-talk] Church experiences
>>>>> Hi Adrijana this is a great discussion topic.  My church expeerience
>>>>> has been wonderful.  I joined the choir in October of two thousand
>>>>> eight and the people were gracious and kind to me.
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