When I renounced the religious community of the Presbyterian Church (USA), 2 years ago, I also renounced identifying with the religious institution of ‘Christianity.’ Instead, I was reminded of and reclaimed what first pulled me to Yeshua’s Gospel – reclaiming the ability to value myself and others. By renouncing and leaving institutional religion, I regained what I received when I first made the decision to follow Christ when I was 11 years old – the freedom to love… indiscriminately.
I lost the fear of being judged. Unbeknownst to me, for so many years of walking with the religious institution of Christianity and more especially the last 7 years with the PCUSA, I had been living under the heavy cloud of being judged rather than loved as a woman of color in ministry and this equally placed restrictions on my ability to love fully. I only noticed the presence of the chains by their absence!
Once again, it is A-okay for me to give my love freely and not care to be identified with only the ‘Christians.’ In fact, once I left, I didn’t care at all whether I was noticed or not by any religious group. Things which had hampered me for decades – watching every word and action to make sure it would meet with approval of the religious community, yet, being constantly rejected and invalidated by the very communities I sought to please – were no longer an issue. A huge burden that I had not been aware of carrying was gone!
Since leaving and disengaging, I feel the power of my childhood upon me again – grace, love and power to become. It is my hope that the Creators of the universe will grant me a lot more purposeful and loving years than I have wasted in my entire life with the religious communities that deprive people of justice, love and equity in the name of Christianity.
I feel like a child again, and this is good.
–Oghene’tega
Standing together for justice and equality at the intersection of race and gender 