Avoiding Church...

Another Sunday has come and gone...and I never made it to church...again.  Why do I have such a problem conforming?  Why can't I just make myself get up, go eat donuts, sing for exactly 20 minutes, listen to a sermon and then go to Luby's with the rest of the crowd?  Every week I say this one will be different.  I go to bed with the best intentions, and I even set my alarm.  I begin to head in to wake up my teenager...and then I stop.  I stay in my pajamas, grab something to eat, and get sidetracked.  Time seems to fly by...I look up and it's noon.  Poo.  I did it again.  So I firmly resolve that next week will be different, and the cycle begins again.

I love Jesus.  I really do.  I love most of the people...the ones that talk to me anyway.  Is it that I'm looking for a perfect church?  After sitting here thinking about this a lot today, I have come to the conclusion it's not church I'm opposed to but the idea of having to get ready for it.  It's having to take off my pajamas on a Sunday and actually GO somewhere.  Sad, but true.  

Why is that a bad thing?  I mean, isn't Sunday about rest?  So many people let the sun set on Sundays feeling more exhausted than before.  This seems counterproductive and not what God had in mind.  Just a theory though...

As in many things, I think it lies in balance.  Yes, I should go, but some people do need to learn that they can chill on Sunday.  Kick back with the family.  Enjoy life a little. 

Mixing up that church routine wouldn't hurt either.  How?  I don't know.  Start a creative arts ministry for teenagers and let them run the show once a month.  Have an all music service once in a while.  Meet at a park for worship one fall morning.  Have real testimonies.  Be real people.  Get out of your $150,000 house (or more) and see how the rest of the world lives.  Be open to having gay people at your church.  (Gasp!) Jesus loves them.  Why can't Christians?  That makes no sense.  How can a man having premarital sex with his girlfriend be accepted but not a lesbian?  They are both sinners...just like you and just like me.  

I have a hard time with church.  I know I'm supposed to be there for God, but all this bothers me.  Every time I turn around I hear someone talking about how church people are the worst.  They are the most judgmental and often very hateful.  It makes me sad.  

What's even more sad is that my teenager wants nothing to do with church youth groups.  She will go to Sunday morning service with me, but she really has no interest in her age group.  Having recently moved to Houston, she doesn't know anyone.  I told her she should go to make friends.  Her response?  "I don't want to make friends at church.  They don't understand me, and they don't accept people."  The sad part?  I can't really argue with it.  I tell her that she needs to focus on God and that there are serious ones there....she just has to be patient and she will find them.  

But I know how she feels...maybe there is a deeper reason for my church avoidance...

Comments

  1. Heather very thought provoking. I don't go to church and I love God. I do think that sometimes organized religion is so arrogant and insulated.
    I have found more love and peace in worshiping on my own.

    ReplyDelete

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