Here are some observations, not necessarily endorsements from Rabbi Darfour: “A successful religion is one that explains life effectively for its members. In an age of alienation, with people living anonymously, in compacted areas of high population density, a place where anonymity and loneliness can be overcome under the mantle of a commonly shared experience is bound to hold a strong attraction…”

I don’t particularly resonate with what the rabbi said about loneliness but I believe that works for many. In fact, my husband keeps reminding me that we go to Mass for the social dimension of worship; I hope I see the benefits of this soon enough.

One of my complaints against my church is: “In failing to supply people with solutions to overwhelming social problems and in failing to supply society with a sense of lasting meaning.” The quotation is still from Rabbi Darfour

My search for meaning is similar to what the Jews have been impatient with: “Congregants come to the synagogue to be sang to and preached at.” Maybe my responsibility is to go to another church as suggested many times by a friend happy in her parish in my hometown.

“It’s true that religion may be enjoyed and expressed through the highly emotive, but I (Rabbi Darfour) do not think it can really grow that way. Faith must be shaped by more than emotional moments”

“Instantaneous salvation, faith in a flash, throwing oneself into God’s hands and hoping for the best, is neither right or wrong. It just strikes me as being insufficient as a building block for a mature religious life”

Rabbi Darfour in “Finding God in the Garden” continues:”I see faith as a commitment to the sum total of beliefs, sentiments, and practices, individual and social that has as its object a power we recognize as supreme on which we depend for guidance and inspiration and with which through prayer and ethical conduct, we can enter into a relationship.”

“My experience with my church hs to be dealt with accordingly: such a faith is arrived at only after much effort, struggle, thought and behavior refined by social experience. It requires patience and experimentation.”

I do like experimentation. I like personal experience

“Faith is a process in becoming. Working to achieve it never ends.”