Alli, I'm glad the description of my warm and welcoming church was inspiring. I really worry, when I tell happy stories like this, that I will get greedy with the all-too-tempting sugar coating. I try to be realistic about the struggles, while celebrating the good. Our church has had its share of less ideal moments, and I'm sure we will have more. But the redemptive process is just that—a process—and I'm thankful that the people I go to church with are on that path together. (Btw, I loved hearing the story about your dad and his "husband-in-law." I like the "quarter brother" term, too!)

Jamie, I'm glad you're glad, and I'm also glad you're thinking on it. I'm looking forward to hearing more from you!

Ari, this is profound: "I think our conflict lies in how undeniably we’re fed by our faith, while witnessing deep flaws in the organization and how it tries to misrepresent itself in an effort to impress others to join the church." There's so much imperfection, sin and hypocrisy in every single person, whether or not they live by a faith. The problem, as you point out, lies with how Christians tend to misrepresent themselves (and that, I think, is rooted in how often God is misrepresented in churches).

Jay, thanks for reading and commenting. You're so right. Love is the core of the entire Christian faith, but somewhere along the way things got off track. I like engaging in theological discussions and debates quite a bit, but when we get so heavily legalistic about our faith that our interpretation of "rules" trumps love, we've completely forgotten why Jesus was sent to us in the first place.