St Brigid & Growing up " Both/And"

                                             My altar at home. St Brigid features permanently. Photo by The

                                              Pensacola Hippie. 

Today is February 1, 2022. 

It is, in Celtic Druid spirituality, the feast of Imbolc-- halfway to the Spring Equinox. The days are getting longer and here in Florida, we are seeing less " Florida Winter Weather. " Brian and I are tending to our rose garden and he is planning which crops he will plant in our raised-bed garden. 

 Brigid is one of three major Celtic Christian saints. 

For many Christians, today is the feast day of St Brigid of Ireland. Brigid was born in Ireland -- the daughter of Druid chief and his Christian slave. One of the traits I share with this saint-- other than a love of nature and expressing my faith by service with and to others is an interfaith upbringing. Brigid's mother taught her about Jesus and Brigid became a Christian. Yet she understood her Druid heritage 

Growing up interfaith was mostly a blessing for me.  Yet sometimes being " both/and"--having one foot in the Christian world and one foot in Judaism - was a lonely space for me. Everyone I knew went to church on Sunday or Shabbat services at synagogues. Most of churchgoing relatives & friends at that time were Catholic, so this meant that they {along with my Jewish kin} had Religious Education classes on weekends. The McCarren Weekend rituals included cartoons on Saturday and watching _Sunday Morning_ with Charles Kuralt with the parents. 

Many of my peers had religious coming-of-age rituals {such as First Communion for my Catholic Christian friends & a Bar or Bat Mitzvah for Jewish young people} It was hard identifying as " both/and while also feeling like a religious imposter. 

 Even today-- 25 years after my baptism into Christianity-- I still have imposter syndrome. Thankfully, I belong to a church community that celebrates our individual faith walks-- that all baptized persons can claim Christianity. I've met one handful of people who share the experience of either growing up in an interfaith household or having a spouse of a different faith. As an adult, I am grateful for the opportunity to choose my own faith path--- and using that experience as being sort of a " bridge" between we Christians and our Jewish neighbors. 

Within the past four years or so, I've been exploring the Jewish roots of Jesus. The Savior of the world and myself share one thing--we were born to Jewish mothers.  While I am a Christian, part of my DNA is Ashkenazi Jewish and {according to Jewish law} am a member of the Jewish community for life. While I am a Christian, my interfaith experience has shaped and continues to shape me as a walk with Christ now. 

St Brigid shows me that the gift of being " both/and" comes with its own unique baggage. But I also hope that God will show ways to use me as a bridge-builder in a culture that seems to continue to place walls between us and our neighbors.  Jewish journalist and professor mark Oppenheimer said that the best way for people of faith to really learn about each other is to visit each other in their worship space on any average week. I've been blessed to witness several Jewish rites of passage rituals and I feel that my Christian faith is strengthened from these experiences. 

In the Name of the Holy Three....

Sarah McCarren

1 February 2022

The Collect for Brigid of Kildare O God, whose servant Brigid, kindled with the flame of your love, became a shining light in your Church: Grant that we also may be aflame with the spirit of love and discipline, and walk before you as children of light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.