Worshiping God

Dear My Friend David, 
We are all children of the same God. ~Kenan Ozcan, Inscription in the English Quran he gave me as a gift

During my time in Turkey, I had the opportunity to enter two Mosques, Mosques that are actively used as places of worship in the modern day and have been continuously active going on 400 years. They were the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, commonly known as the Blue Mosque, completed in 1616 AD and the New Mosque completed in 1660 AD. Besides the stunning architecture, the elaborate internal decoration, and the lack of any seating places (they worship god from their knees) the aspect of the mosques that most intrigued me was the separate worship areas for men and women. The men worship in the front of the mosques while the women worship completely separate from the men in the rear of the mosques.

I understand why they do this, understand that having a woman supplicated on her knees in front of a man could induce his mind to focus on her assets instead of on worshiping god. I understand that this is an unneeded distraction as man attempts to commune with his maker. I understand but, still, it is not my preference for worshiping God. It is not my preference because God exists in community and has created us to exist in community.

In the Christian world view, the triune Godhead is a community, a community consisting of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are three distinct persons yet coexist in unity and are co-equal, co-eternal.  God created us in his image so as people, as the human race, we are only complete when we are in community, a community with God as the central figure in that community. This understanding of community is a driving force in how I, a Christian, prefer to worship my creator.

I prefer attending Christian services with my woman at my side, prefer it when we worship together. I feel more connected to God and to my woman when we are worhipping side by side, hand in hand, hearts intertwined with God's heart. For me, it is the three of us in community, a representation of  the Trinity, a three corded braid of God, Me, and her, a braid of far greater strength than any of us alone. It is within this braid that I most sense the awesomeness of God. It is within this braid that I most feel God's love.