peacefulI had asked one of my coworkers, who's a student in the Theology school, if he knew of any good churches which had what I was looking for (liberal, young-adult community, NOT Southern Baptist). He recommended the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer (http://www.redeemer.org/).
I got there a few minutes late and the service had already started. Several helpful members showed me where to go and I crept into the last pew... and almost immediately started crying. I don't know why. I just felt really strongly that this was where I should be.
It's an absolutely beautiful church, and the sermon involved several things I've had issues with (the conflict between being Christian and American [which I will talk about sometime], realizing you're not alone, etc.). And the pastor who did the children's sermon did it with a crow puppet! How cool is that?
Afterwards the girl beside me, who was also a visitor, and I struck up a conversation. There was a lunch for new members, and since we were visitors they didn't charge us the nominal fee. We got to talk to the new members pastor and one of the leaders of the young-adult group. I found out that Lutherans don't really care about sexual orientation (a big issue for me, though I'm straight) and don't want to evangelize in a pushy manner like the Baptists do.
I'm really excited about this. I think this is where I'm supposed to be.
