Our religious life tells us to strive to be close to God. Many of us have experienced those “mountaintop” moments when we are filled with the joy of God’s presence.

But what about the rest of the time? Those times when we seem to be slogging through the routines of life, struggling to sense God at all. Those times when God seems distant. Or not there at all.

Volumes have been published about what we’re supposed to “do” when we feel far from God. But somehow, that only reinforces the myth that our nearness to God is somehow up to us, that we can earn God’s favor. Which, in turn, deepens our guilt when we’re not close enough.

So how do we deal with it all? With the reality that we can’t live on the mountaintops. With the struggle in the valleys.

Join us in the 167 Side Room of the Marietta Brewing Company this Sunday, Aug. 23, for a frank and open discussion about the distant times, what we’re to make of them, and how we can not only cope but still thrive in our faith as we pass through them.

Happy Half-Hour: 6:30pm

Conversation Begins: 7:00pm