The idea of high church is traditionally guided by a belief that formality and uniformity are most important to a connection to/with the Divine. It’s a structure, a container meant for facilitating order.
River (Nick) and I both attended a popular Christian liberal arts University in southern CA and were roommates. We studied biblical and theological studies/philosophy and wizardry. Both he and I obtained degrees with hopes of making it to the big leagues of pastoring at churches. We both became youth pastors with plans to grow within the organizations we started jobs at upon graduation in 2013. We had a defined plan of how we’d teach people (mostly teenagers with great questions we didn’t have answers to) about God. We learned on the fly, and quickly became fully invested in playing the games needed to succeed. We’ve come out the other side with some scraped knees, but better for it. We’ve now taken different roads here and there “career”-wise. We’re both married now and have baby boys! River’s in NY. I’m in OR. Our boys are nine months apart and we’re still great friends after all this time. We’ve both traversed some interesting terrain to get to where we’re at now. We’ve always had a friendship where we could be honest about different things we were learning and practicing. We shared ideas back and forth and it seemed we were circling each other in the same direction, into a new galaxy of experience. We were finding healthier, more helpful ways to practice True Being in ways that were meaningful. We’ve come to integrate the helpful pieces of our individual and collective journeys. We found a lot of guidance and grace via various avenues and authors and artists and comedians and podcasts. Many conversations. So many text messages. We’ve been connected virtually the whole time since we left college.
We feel there’s an ancient, yet fresh, way to express the spiritual/mystical/experiential via a podcast and you might find some of the things we enjoy talking about to be helpful. We plan to have guests. There will probably be talk of music, religion, podcasts, cannabis, and dad things. We hope it can serve as a guide to self inquiry and deeper knowing. High Church for us is optimally seeking a way to reflect on and experience This. The “high” in our version of high church seeks to uncover that which is truest and highest in our own innermost being. What’s happening Now. Allowing space for a tuned-in, more integrated and aware way of being in the world. You can keep church, if it helps you. But church can also be the ever-present community of Being that we can meet with in any space. Thanks for those who are helping us to form a High Church together.
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