Rather surprisingly, a charismatic Southern Baptist and a non-believing Jew found they can worship together and each feel spiritually fed at Cincinnati Friends Meeting (CFM). When Christiana and Michael Borack ventured here two years ago, they experienced the "spiritual spaciousness,” according to Michael. “There’s room for all of me and Christiana.”

They became members a year ago. Christiana, a special education/reading teacher at Mason High School, is a new member of ministry and counsel and Michael, a clinical psychologist, is assistant financial secretary.

When Christiana spotted Michael on a dating app in 2022, she was unsure about the belief difference. “It scared me, but I want to include others at my table,” she said.

Finding Christiana, Michael said, “was like God’s finally figured out how to reach me: a beautiful woman who has faith.”

Theirs has been a unique relationship, including their marriage in a hospital room as Michael faced a quintuple heart bypass in 2023. “I feel like I really dodged a bullet.”

As a couple, they sought a place to worship that would appeal to both of them. “Knowing Michael was not as comfortable in a religious setting, it was important to find a place where we both felt alright,” Christiana said.

When Michael mentioned he’d worshiped at Community Friends, Christiana found CFM by googling nearby Quakers. They first attended meeting Easter 2023. “We felt very comfortable,” she said. “I really liked the silence and the meditative part; that it was not all this showmanship and fanfare.”

Christiana chose to be baptized at eight years old. “I took religion very seriously then and believed in sin and eternal torment,” yet she also experienced wondrous moments, and a deep connection to Jesus, Bible stories and old hymns.

At three after the death of a relative, she witnessed “an angelic figure.” In her 20's after another close loss when she “kept praying for a sign, I was awakened by a brilliant beam of light when a peace like I have never felt went through my body. That took all my grief away.”

Christiana  gravitated away from the church until the traumatic births of her children, Olivia and Jonathan, because of a blood disorder. The ER prayed over her and Olivia, “who had a diagnosis of quadriplegia. She walked on my birthday at age three and, by the time she was eight, only had right-sided weakness. To me it was a miracle. When my children survived I knew I had to raise them in faith.” In a non-denominational church, she served on a prayer team and taught Sunday and Bible schools.

Christiana was also part of an interfaith prayer group focused on therapeutic healing, where she “discovered who I am in Christ, that I am loved and worthy.” She is currently training in healing touch and practiced on Michael through a cancer diagnosis shortly after their arrival here. 

This active kind of prayer scared Christiana at first. “But the Spirit kept nudging me. I am hard headed, so Spirit becomes a louder voice.”

Michael grew up with a Presbyterian mother and an atheist father “who saw faith and belief in God  as a made-up fantasy by people that are scared of death. I don’t agree.”

Practicing in a state mental hospital, Michael observed that “patients on their meds and with a healthy spirituality, which I helped them articulate, were doing better. Psychiatrists and psychologists tend to be scientific and atheist. Because of research from the group I started, I evolved from a general atheist to a begging agnostic: so, if it’s the end, I will beg God to spare me.

“Before Christiana, I could feel something of God. Her faith is a bridge. When she wanted to find a spiritual community, I was a little terrified. Truth is, I am a Jew, though I was never bar mitzvahed, and not in any religious or cultural sense. My mother converted to Reform Judaism and we had Christmas trees and Easter-egg hunts. I just didn't fit in anywhere.

“Finding a place for both of us – phase two of God’s presence; phase one was Christiana – where it is safe to be myself is a little miraculous,” Michael said. “This makes me appear to be on a spiritual path. I was stumbling along from heart surgery to a cancer diagnosis and facing death a year apart, but some force kept offering supports.”

At Cincinnati Friends, Michael does not “find God in the silence, but in the connection and the community. The voice of God is all the voices I have ever heard all at once, a cacophony of humanity. Jim is a big part of the draw for me. I love having a message, which hits an important part of my soul.”

For Christiana, worship “sets the rhythm of the week and brings me peace to see the shared humanity and that of God in everyone. The inclusivity here is very important. Not having a creed is refreshing. I am free to ask questions.”

“A spirituality of questions instead of answers means a lot to me, Michael said. “I didn't imagine wanting to go to a place, I just wanted to follow Christiana. But this is a place I want to be. I stumbled on something good …. OR was it placed before me?”