By Matt Miofsky March 1, 2022Gathering, Years ago, I was talking to a young man who told me that he didn’t like church because it sugar-coated life. For him, hope, love, faith – these were all nice ideas but none of them fully took seriously the injustices and hardships of life. Some of us may feel that way. We might look at religion as encouraging a naïve optimism or church people as inauthentica...  Read More

Story from the Outside:Chronic pain is funny, not haha funny, but odd, strange, funny. The thing about living with chronic pain is no one really knows you have it unless you tell them. From the outside I look perfectly healthy and normal, but on the inside there is a never ending storm that won’t quite settle down, and is never quite finished with me. A storm of pain that makes “feeling” and “bein...  Read More

Story from the Outside:By the time I was 15 I was heavily addicted to drugs, specifically methamphetamine and crack cocaine. I ended up getting pregnant. There really was no option other than getting an abortion. When I was 21 I had stopped using hard drugs but I replaced the drugs with alcohol. I just didn’t know how to get through the day without something to numb the pain. My alcohol use was at...  Read More

By Matt Miofsky Tonight The Gathering is having a Commit Service at 7pm at our Clayton site and online. This is an opportunity to join The Gathering in membership, remember your baptism, or to be baptized for the first time. Many folks will ask me, “Pastor Matt, how do I become an official member of the church?” Tonight is how! I will talk about what commitment in membership means, why I think it ...  Read More

Story from the Outside:I am an immigrant from Malaysia, who came to the United States to go to college.  I became a U.S. citizen 30 years ago to work for the federal government.  I have many painful stories of feeling like an outsider, but two that come to mind are specific to the Church. It was an evening lecture by a very famous bishop and theologian, in the award-winning new chapel at my work. ...  Read More

True Story from Someone on the Outside:My father (Tom) and I live our lives by the old adage, “play hard, work hard”, and boy do we live up to the phrase.  We are NOT “church” people. Even though he was raised Italian/Catholic (and I inherited those traits) we don’t go to church on Sunday mornings, which is fine by me because I’m certain I don’t belong there. Tom and I are closer than close. We ar...  Read More