Following is a fictionalized account based on experiences from a typical BayMarin Sunday Gathering... I just came back from a church service.  A friend had asked me to join her at BayMarin Church.  "I don't go to church," I told her.  Her response was simply, "I think you'll be surprised at what you'll find."  I told my friend, "Alright, I'll go once if you promise you won't bug me about going again."  She agreed to my terms with a kind of confidence that gave me pause. When I entered the meeting space things seemed normal enough.  There were people milling about talking comfortably with one another.  There were pieces of art that, by the looks of them, were created by people from the community.  There was a spot where musicians will play and someone would speak. As the service began, I was immediately drawn, through the music, the scripture readings, and the prayers, into the sense of a different reality -- a larger view of life where God permeates all space and time and invites humans to live a life that is about more than themselves. The music was good.  The words were thoughtful, beautiful and even profound. The prayers were honest and filled with faith.  But the part that surprised me was when someone got up from the congregation who was not the pastor and began to talk about what he encountered this week as he lived out his faith.  He talked about how he felt "led" to make a phone call to someone who he has been estranged from for a long time in an attempt to reconcile that relationship.  He said that the conversation did not go very well but he was learning that following God's leadings doesn't mean we have a guaranteed positive result.  That seemed honest... and I could relate to bad results in relationships. A young woman, who was maybe 19, talked about a group she belonged to (that a lot of people in the church belong to from the sound of the affirming sounds) where the members (who I guess were also young women) were talking about what it means to be a woman.  The stuff she described was deep and very vulnerable.  She talked about the dilemma of being single, sexual, and wanting to follow God with all of her female self.  She had a lot more questions than answers -- how refreshing. Then the pastor began his sermon.  His sermon surprised me because he didn't seem to be selling anything.  He reflected on what he heard the man and the woman talk about and then described how their stories fit into the beautiful story God invites all of us to live in.  There were no quick, easy answers, just honest questions, helpful suggestions, and the sense that people were a part of this community because they wanted to live in the beautiful story and they wanted to give and receive help from others in the community to have that happen. There was a bit more music at the end, but honestly I was not impressed with the music, although it was good.  What impressed me was that this community was experiencing a kind of life with God and each other that I have not encountered any other place.  I don't know much about the story they talked about.  But what I saw, heard, and even participated in that morning stirred a longing to investigate and experience a greater reality -- if there is one. My friend has kept up her promise not to bug me to go back.  It's been a few weeks now and I haven't been able to shake the feeling that I got in that community that there is something more than meets the eye -- something I want to investigate.  Who knows, maybe I'll ask my friend to join me at BayMarin some Sunday.  I wonder if she'll be surprised?