{"id":135,"date":"2009-05-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-05-11T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/fearofwhales\/2009\/05\/excommunicated.html"},"modified":"2011-05-16T16:17:05","modified_gmt":"2011-05-16T20:17:05","slug":"excommunicated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2009\/05\/excommunicated.html","title":{"rendered":"Excommunicated"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>I\u2019ve been kicked out of my church. I\u2019m a protestant and we don\u2019t use the word excommunication, but we do unfortunately have vindictive congregants who start malicious rumors which persuade leaders to ask other congregants not to return.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s what happened\u2026<\/p>\n

A couple weeks ago.<\/p>\n

For those of you following my story you will know that I was only made a member recently.
\nThat\u2019s true, but it\u2019s not actually the presbytery that has kicked me out. The Presbyterian government is designed exactly such as to prevent such idiocy. But that doesn\u2019t help people who have poured all of their investments into side ministries the way I did in the college ministry. It\u2019s the college ministry which I\u2019ve been asked not to disturb until further notice<\/p>\n

So theoretically I could still go the early Sunday service, but I\u2019m pretty sure even God doesn\u2019t wake up that early. And I COULD go to any service I want, without anyone who would physically stop me, but I would be looked on as a trouble maker and be shunned socially as one who doesn\u2019t belong.
\nThe rest of my spiritual life is no better. Almost all my Christian brothers and sisters at my church have turned against me. And I\u2019m left cynical and unable to trust any community if I find I can\u2019t trust this one<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t blend in to the other churches I visit. I\u2019m an overly intellectual theologically minded ministry veteran at 22 coming to these churches as a first time visitor. They want to walk me through the sinners prayer, while I\u2019m investigating seminaries.<\/p>\n

And perhaps worst of all I\u2019m hearing nothing but static on the line with God. And it\u2019s been weeks.<\/p>\n

So I do my best to stay faithful. I know God hears even when he doesn\u2019t respond. I know god\u2019s with me, even when I walk through he valley yadda yadda\u2026<\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t mean I like it.<\/p>\n

I think the worst thing.. is that since the church thing, not only have things not gotten better.. they\u2019ve not gotten worse.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the opposite of a plateau?<\/p>\n

I can handle things going up and down, I\u2019d like to think I can even handle things going as far down as this\u2026But it\u2019s not going down.
\nIt\u2019s just down, and holding steady.<\/p>\n

I feel dead.<\/p>\n

I know that\u2019s not real useful. Like another blog about John 3:16 would be.<\/p>\n

But I feel like I have to speak because my story should be told, that sometimes life isn\u2019t sunshine and butterflies. and someone aught to be reporting from the trench even though there\u2019s nothing really to report.<\/p>\n

\u2026it\u2019s dark down here\u2026<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been kicked out of my church. I\u2019m a protestant and we don\u2019t use the word excommunication, but we do unfortunately have vindictive congregants who start malicious rumors which persuade leaders to ask other congregants not to return. And that\u2019s what happened\u2026 A couple weeks ago. For those of you following my story you will…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":391,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,11,10],"tags":[172,171,169,170],"class_list":["post-135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-culture","category-conversation-starters","category-inspiration-2","tag-1-cor-5","tag-disfellowship","tag-excommunicate","tag-kicked-out"],"yoast_head":"\nExcommunicated - A Fear of Whales<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2009\/05\/excommunicated.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Excommunicated - A Fear of Whales\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I\u2019ve been kicked out of my church. I\u2019m a protestant and we don\u2019t use the word excommunication, but we do unfortunately have vindictive congregants who start malicious rumors which persuade leaders to ask other congregants not to return. And that\u2019s what happened\u2026 A couple weeks ago. For those of you following my story you will…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2009\/05\/excommunicated.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Fear of Whales\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-05-11T04:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-05-16T20:17:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/fearofwhales.typepad.com\/.a\/6a014e87f1cb84970d01538dfeaccf970b-pi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"rgaffney\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Excommunicated - A Fear of Whales","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2009\/05\/excommunicated.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Excommunicated - A Fear of Whales","og_description":"I\u2019ve been kicked out of my church. I\u2019m a protestant and we don\u2019t use the word excommunication, but we do unfortunately have vindictive congregants who start malicious rumors which persuade leaders to ask other congregants not to return. And that\u2019s what happened\u2026 A couple weeks ago. For those of you following my story you will…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2009\/05\/excommunicated.html","og_site_name":"A Fear of Whales","article_published_time":"2009-05-11T04:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-05-16T20:17:05+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/fearofwhales.typepad.com\/.a\/6a014e87f1cb84970d01538dfeaccf970b-pi"}],"author":"rgaffney","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2009\/05\/excommunicated.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2009\/05\/excommunicated.html","name":"Excommunicated - A Fear of Whales","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2009\/05\/excommunicated.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2009\/05\/excommunicated.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/fearofwhales.typepad.com\/.a\/6a014e87f1cb84970d01538dfeaccf970b-pi","datePublished":"2009-05-11T04:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2011-05-16T20:17:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/#\/schema\/person\/d1517242690f3eb7970adfa3b8e1a567"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2009\/05\/excommunicated.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2009\/05\/excommunicated.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2009\/05\/excommunicated.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/fearofwhales.typepad.com\/.a\/6a014e87f1cb84970d01538dfeaccf970b-pi","contentUrl":"http:\/\/fearofwhales.typepad.com\/.a\/6a014e87f1cb84970d01538dfeaccf970b-pi"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2009\/05\/excommunicated.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Excommunicated"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/","name":"A Fear of Whales","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Ryan Gaffney","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/#\/schema\/person\/d1517242690f3eb7970adfa3b8e1a567","name":"rgaffney","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/author\/rgaffney"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/391"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":448,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135\/revisions\/448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}