Godliness

I went to theology on tap last week. Theology on Tap is a program of St. David's young adult ministry. (please note that I do not currently attend St. David's). The idea is that we meet once a month at a bar and talk about God and stuff. I've been twice now. I really like it.

This week our conversation turned to the topic of Godliness. (we were supposed to be talking about recreation and God). We went around our table of 5 and defined what makes a Godly life. (This table included me, a professional photographer, her husband - a theology student, an applied math PHD student and a writer/business student). The answers were all different and interesting. I started with "Peace with yourself, God and others." The next answer was very vague, "Any action that is in accordance with God's will" (okay I'm paraphrasing that one). Then next answer was "Living your life so that you are more like Christ every day, through the sacraments of the Church." The math student sitting next to me said that living a Godly life was "living out God's plan for you life in joy." There was a clear distinction between living out some plan you thought God had for your life and being miserable and living out that plan which brought you joy. Finally my friend, the photographer, said that "emptying yourself to love God's people." was a Godly life.

Our conversation was so fascinating because we all had such different ideas of what a Godly life is and most of our answers were not concrete. I personally, think that anyone can live a Godly life whether or not they go to Church or believe in Christ or are of some other faith. My friend who said that living Godly life was dependent on being part of Church would highly disagree. We were able to be in discussion and listen and respect the other opinion. Over our beer and gin and tonics (and delicious enchiladas) we were able to discuss these ideas and talk about the freedom in Christ and be in true conversation. I have missed that since I've been back in Texas. While in Geneva I was surrounded by people who were aware of and exploring faith in amazing ways - but here I had not yet found people that I connected with on a spiritual level. It's refreshing to hear and see and experience a spiritual friendship. I hadn't even realized how much I needed that until I experienced it again.

I am so thankful that I am beginning to find Godly friends here.