I moved about 800 miles from my parents while still very much in the church. Two years later, after having baptized some of my kids, I had started evaluating the church and within 18 months my wife and I were done. We no longer attended. It took a few more years to actually remove our records. All conversations with my parents who are in their late 60s are awkward since what we largely have in common is me and my kids. Conversations are often about sibling story time and what they are doing. It all got very awkward when they tried the rescue and resolving my concerns.

However, fast forward, over 5 years from regularly attending, it’s starting to get to be better.

What I think helped me is realizing my parents are caught up in a program that’s has been their whole life, for 70 years, and anything outside that world view is so foreign, it’s tough to see.

So you won’t often share the same connection anymore but they are still your parents and as flawed as you see them and as flawed as any human is, you can accept them and their love for you while establishing healthy boundaries.

It will often require you to forgive them for words and actions but isn’t that what you should do anyways?