Joining A Congregation

It's taken me several years of watching from the outside, but this year was when I finally took the plunge and became active in my local TST Congregation. They're somewhat new, growing, and full of really awesome folks that I'm happy to be friends with now. And as my time there has grown, I've come to a simple realization that I should have had years ago...

I miss the work I was doing when I thought being a pastor/minister was my life-path.

As a high schooler, I was very involved in my youth group and saw the youth pastor and associate pastor routes as my end-goal post college. They spent their time organizing events, planning courses, reading theology/books, and honestly just hanging out with the congregation. When I shadowed them as an intern during college, we visited folks who were stuck in hospitals, nursing homes, and their own houses due to disabilities or illness. With some we just talked, others we prayed with, and some we even played card/board games with. It was fulfilling and kinda fun and part of me misses that dream of taking care of people in this certain way.

The Satanic Temple is growing and expanding its reach, updating its ministry program, and becoming a more well-known organization during all this chaos. We raised $32k for food banks across the country during this government shutdown, we are fighting for religious plurality in every state we have a presence, and our work with reproductive rights has especially gotten attention. So part of me hopes that one day in the future, I will be able to make a go of being a satanic minister.

There are so many athiest and agnostic folks in the healthcare system that would benefit from having someone to talk to and be with, maybe my path goes along those lines. Doing the visits and chats that I miss from my youth, but in a new and interesting direction.

My favorite of our tenets is the first becuase it puts compassion (within reason) as the first item to live by. So as the Christian right continues to thrive on hate, maybe the Satanic left can thrive on compassion.

It sure would make the world a better place if someone did.

Metztli // merry krampus nacht