Margaret Johnson

“I am a working, middle-aged, divorced, single mother. I have a loving, wonderful, but challenging family and a demanding job. I have never joined a church on my own, although I have wanted to at different times in my adult life. Somehow, I was always diverted by other people’s needs.

“I am happy to reaffirm my faith in God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. I may have taken a little break, 35 years or so, from expressing my faith or even acknowledging it, but I know that faith is part of my structure. I believe that through Jesus I am forgiven and made available to God. I strive to understand God’s purpose for events in my life and my world. I know I will explore and learn more and I hope to grow spiritually within the community here. And I am thankful that for this task I am not facing a deadline of next Tuesday at noon.

“I am finally ready to address my spirituality on my own instead of vicariously through other people. I have a lot to learn and I happily anticipate the process.”

Lisa Reitmeier

“Stating a faith is like summarizing a Soul.

Who has that sort of insightful stamina?

Who can diagram the sentence of their Spirit, The history of one’s devotion to the Divine?

“But when I have to, When I (often) sit across from someone Who doesn’t believe in my belief, I stumble over inadequate variations of memories like these:

“A priest in an African village once told me that my God was getting bigger.’

That was after my confession under the mango tree when I told him I felt guilty for thinking that even Animist and Muslims could go to heaven.

“And once, in an empty restaurant, I stared distrustfully at an artist’s rendering of Jesus and the woman – that famous scene at the well. She looked a bit like me, and either because of my complacency or my desire,
I’ve been hearing him ever since.”

“The shape of my faith has moved a shifted many times over the course of my life. My child’s two-dimensional notion of God and his role in the world developed in adolescence into a conservative, evangelical faith, focused on my personal relationship with God, and the need to evangelize others so that they could get into heaven when they died.

“In my teens, I developed a strong awareness of the world’s injustice and was deeply troubled by it. In time, this led me to some understanding of God’s absolutely key concern for the poor and oppressed, for the marginalized, for the people on the fringes of society. It also led me to the belief that a full, Christian life requires engagement not just with these issues, but also with the people behind them.

“Now in my late twenties, my ideas on God and the world continue to morph. Where I once thought in terms of black and white; of godliness and sinfulness, good and evil, Christian and non-Christian, the boundaries of some of my beliefs are now more fluid’ and colored in shades of grey.”

Relationship with the Father is my source of true life. The Son made the relationship possible and the Holy Spirit sustains it. Through the Christ I am profoundly privileged to enter this community of Love that is God.

“This relationship, however, is not some abstract construction. I am the living proof. When my spirit is aligned with God through faith in him (i.e. running the race) the fruits of the spirit are there to be seen, but also vice versa.

“I consider my life to be among the most blessed on earth. People that care and love me constantly surround me. I know little of pain or loss. All I remember is love and grace and the forgiveness/freedom of God.

“Sometimes I feel guilty that I have such a blessed life. But then I hear a voice, ‘Share the blessing.’”

“It seems to me that pettiness, selfishness and conceit (both on our part and the parts of others) are the cause of the unavoidable suffering in the world, and they are a strictly human construction. It is this smallness in humanity that creates our need for the greatness of Jesus to raise us up to God.

“No matter how hard I try to be who God intends me to be and to follow Jesus example of living in the world, there will be someone I hurt or something I misunderstand or simply do wrong because I’m human.

“I have been a Presbyterian all of my life and one the things that resonates most for me about our tradition is the emphasis on grace because I know for a fact that I was saved from who I might have been by grace.”

JEAN-BARBER BUCEK  
(No Photo)

“I believe in Jesus Christ, Son of God, as my personal Savior.

“I want to belong to a community of believers that will provide me with support so I can be in a troubled world. I most desire to be the best Abba’s child.

“I am grateful for the gifts that God has bestowed on me, humor, intellect, good health and energy. I am working on being a more peaceful soul, trying to seek harmony over ‘rightness.”

When hurt or discouraged, I immediately turn to Our Lord, asking for his comfort so that I don’t feel the need to lash back or correct another.

“I have had several epiphany experiences which have touched me deeply and given me much comfort in my daily spiritual journey. I look forward to being of service at Broadway Presbyterian Church.”