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From Dualism to Wholeness: A Spiritual Journey Through Many Traditions Toward Sacrament, Justice, and Love

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Finding Unity in the Episcopal Church After a Lifetime of Seeking

My spiritual journey has never been a straight line. I began within the Free Will Baptist tradition, carrying with me the dualistic view of sacred and profane, and the heavy sense that humanity was broken and bound for judgment. Yet, as the years passed, my experiences, teachers, and encounters with different traditions began to weave together a richer tapestry of faith—one that ultimately led me to the Episcopal Church.

Learning That Life Is Relation

At Free Will Baptist Bible College, I sat under Professor Leroy Forlines, who wrote on Bible ethics and taught that life is essentially about relationships. He described four foundational ones: with God, with others, with ourselves, and with the universe. That idea—that life is relation—stuck with me. It gave me a framework that would shape how I interpreted every new encounter with spirituality.

Wesleyan Influence and the Methodist Way

After years in the Free Will Baptist Church, I had the opportunity to serve as a Church of the Nazarene pastor. Through that experience, I became acquainted with John Wesley. His teaching opened my eyes to a broader vision of Christian faith, one that emphasized holiness, grace, and practical living. Eventually, I found my way into the Methodist Church, where I discovered the Wesleyan Quadrilateral: truth is discerned through Scripture, Reason, Experience, and Tradition. This made so much sense to me—so different from the sola scriptura approach of the Free Will Baptist and Nazarene churches.

In 1997, I formally joined the United Methodist Church and went on to attend Memphis Theological Seminary. There, Dr. Barry Bryant, a Methodist professor, drilled into us the heart of the Gospel: love God and love your neighbor as yourself. From him I also learned the depth of sacrament and sacramentalism—seeing God’s grace in ordinary, tangible ways.

The Splitting of the UMC

In more recent years, I watched the United Methodist Church fracture over LGBTQ ordination. Many congregations left, and I felt the services lose some of the liturgical richness rooted in Anglican tradition. My heart longed for a worship that was more sacramental, more connected to the deep rhythms of Anglican and Catholic practice. I yearned for a place where my expanding spirituality—shaped by so many influences—could be fully lived.

Streams That Shaped Me

By this time, I had already been shaped by multiple streams of faith:

  • Native American spirituality taught me that everything is sacred and all life is interconnected.
  • Quaker spirituality taught me to listen for the Inner Light and to seek truth in silence and simplicity.
  • Progressive Christianity taught me that love and justice are the heart of the Gospel, and inclusivity is non-negotiable.
  • Taoism, through the teaching of Dr. Larry Campbell, showed me the wisdom of balance, harmony, and flow.

All of these formed within me a vision of faith that went beyond dogma—one that cherished relationship, inclusion, and sacrament.

Finding Home in the Episcopal Church

That longing found its home at St. James Episcopal Church in Springfield, Missouri. Here, I discovered a community where all the influences of my journey seemed to converge. The liturgy connects me to the ancient church, the sacraments bring depth and meaning, and the spirit of inclusion reflects the love I had discovered in Progressive Christianity. I can see the harmony of Native American spirituality, the silence and integrity of Quakerism, and the wisdom of Taoism alive in this community’s practices.

In Essence

I became an Episcopalian because it is the one place where all the streams of my journey flow together. It is where sacrament and justice meet, where ancient tradition embraces progressive inclusion, and where the beauty of worship reflects the sacredness of all creation. For me, the Episcopal Church is not just a denomination—it is the home where my faith, shaped by so many influences, has found its resting place.

The Seeds of Love: Lessons in Relationships and Faith

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When I was a boy growing up on a small farm in Greene County, Mississippi, my father gave me a handful of corn seeds and told me to plant them beneath an old oak tree. I had asked him why we couldn’t grow crops in the cool shade rather than out in the hot sun. Dad just smiled, handed me the seeds, and let me discover the answer for myself.

As you might expect, the corn never grew under that tree. What I didn’t realize then was that my father was planting more than just corn—he was planting a lesson. Over the years, that experience became a powerful image for me: some truths, like seeds, take time to grow and bear fruit.

The First Seed: Four Basic Relationships

After high school, I enrolled at Free Will Baptist Bible College in Nashville, Tennessee (now Welch College). There, Dr. Leroy Forlines taught a course on Biblical Ethics that left a lasting impression on me. He said there are four basic relationships in every human life:

  1. Our relationship with God
  2. Our relationship with others
  3. Our relationship with ourselves
  4. Our relationship with the universe (the world and creation around us)

At the time, I understood these words only on an intellectual level. It wasn’t until years later—and after some failed relationships and painful lessons—that I began to grasp their true meaning.

The Second Seed: Love as the Heart of Faith

Thirty years later, while studying at Memphis Theological Seminary, another professor, Dr. Barry Bryant, built upon the foundation Dr. Forlines had laid. Dr. Bryant challenged us to see the Bible through one central theme: “Love God and love your neighbor.”

He helped me to realize that life is not primarily about rigid rules and laws but about how we live in relationship with others. Loving God fully means loving with every part of who we are—our physical, spiritual, rational, and emotional selves.

Jesus simplified it even further:

“Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:31)

Dr. Bryant pointed out something that profoundly shifted my understanding: before we can truly love our neighbor, we must also learn to love and value ourselves. Only then can we extend genuine, grace-filled love to others.

The Growth of the Seed

Looking back, I see how these “seeds” of wisdom were planted at different stages of my life. At first, they lay dormant beneath the surface, like that corn beneath the oak tree. It took time, experience, and even hardship for them to take root and grow.

The lesson is simple yet transformative: our faith is lived out through relationships.

  • Our relationship with God is the source of our strength and guidance.
  • Our relationship with ourselves shapes how we see and treat others.
  • Our relationship with others is where our love is tested and expressed.
  • Our relationship with creation reminds us of our responsibility to care for the world around us.

Living Out the Lesson

Today, I strive to live with this understanding: loving God means loving people. It means listening with compassion, forgiving freely, and walking humbly. It means seeing others—not as problems to fix or enemies to defeat—but as fellow travelers on life’s journey.

Just as that corn needed sunlight to grow, our relationships need the light of God’s love. Without it, they wither. With it, they flourish and bear fruit.

So, I ask myself daily: Am I planting seeds of love today? Am I nurturing them so they can grow into something life-giving?