Mark Wenz
In the Fall of 2022 I began looking for a new place to worship. Years before I had been raised by my father, a pastor in the United Church of Christ, and my mother, who worshiped dutifully beside him, but after I was confirmed, I told my parents that I no longer wanted to attend a church whose philosophy didn’t resonate with me. My mom resisted, but my free-thinking father convinced her to let me go my own way, insisting that I would eventually return to the faith.
A period of agnosticism followed, but once I entered college where I took a Religions of the World class and began doing yoga, my spiritual curiosity was awakened, and I delved into Eastern religions–particularly Buddhism. I liked the idea that I could attain enlightenment on my own without having to follow a strict code of mandates. I could find my own way to God.
When I married my second wife in the Spring of 1994, we both had custody of daughters from previous marriages, and we embarked on a journey of blending our families. Before we married, my wife insisted that we raise our daughters in a particular Christian denomination. I concurred, and we subsequently joined a nearby church.
This worked for me for a while (mainly because our pastor was a fantastic speaker), but I never connected with the idea that I had to engage in prescribed sacraments (such as communion) or practices (such as stating the Apostle’s Creed) or suffer the possibility of being cast into eternal damnation after death. How could a God who loved us damn us to hell if we didn’t declare our obeisance to one particular Savior? How does one account for the billions of good people in the world who practice other faiths–or who follow no particular faith at all?
When I moved to Sun Lakes, I began looking for spiritual alternatives and discovered Unity. Unity’s philosophy declares that we are each on a journey of soul evolution and that our bodies are the sacred vessels of our spirits. We believe that God is omnipotent and manifest in all creation and that we can connect to this living God through prayer, meditation, and spiritual evolution. We believe that poor choices may hinder our spiritual evolution but not in hell or sin, and one of our spiritual practices involves recognizing and celebrating the presence of God not only inside of ourselves but also within all creation.
This philosophy immediately clicked with me, and the serendipitous events that led me to be exposed to it seemed preordained. In Unity I have found a home with people whom I trust, love, and celebrate. If this philosophy resonates with you, please join us on Sundays at 10 a.m. in the Arts & Crafts Room at Sun Lakes Country Club as we bask in the joys of being alive, express our gratitude, and cherish our blessings. And so it is.