I'm skipping the lectionary schedule this week to take a different, more personal look at Thursday Theology.
It has been a little while since I have been a regular attendee at Sunday morning church. I think a big part of that is that church no longer feels like a time to worship God, but is more of a gathering of people doing church-y things -- shake hands and hug a few people, grab coffee and a donut, sing a few songs, listen to announcements, listen to a message from the pastor, talk to a few more people, go have lunch.
I don't know. It's probably just me, but I get a much better feeling for the presence and holiness of our Creator right here on my deck. I still enjoy the wisdom and lessons of Sunday morning sermons, but it just doesn't feel like worship. In fact, I don't think it is designed to be worship. I think it's designed to be like worship, but geared more to being pleasurable to us rather than pleasing to God.
I don't know if that makes sense because it is difficult to express what I'm feeling in words.
I think I'm the antiquated one. I think I'm still expecting Sunday morning church to be a time of worship and it isn't even called that anymore. It's service time or a gathering, not a time of worship. Honestly, I'm not that into gatherings or large groups of people.
I am no longer certain of what church is supposed to be. The idea of the Church (big C) being the collective body of the followers of Jesus isn't really identifiable with so many false followers. And the local churches (little c) are more interested in getting butts in the seats and dollars in the collection than in actually doing that love your neighbor thing.
Avoiding all of that doesn't seem to be very theologically sound, but it is where I find myself. If anybody has some good advice or words of wisdom to pull me out of this religious funk they would be greatly appreciated.
It's pretty sad when it's easier to love the neighbor outside of church than it is to love your more religious, church going neighbor.
(heavy sigh)
John
Thursday, July 04, 2024
Thursday Theology
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2 comments:
So you start a real church with real worship. You get a good piano player and you sing the old hymns. I would be the first to sign up to worship with you and listen to you. I find myself feeling just like you. We have tried several churches and nowhere we have been has a real worship God feeling.
For generations church services have had an element of being an opportunity for social mingling with like-minded people, even if that wasn't their primary purpose. With social isolation increasing as it is these days, and religious belief declining, it's inevitable that the social aspect of church becomes a larger and larger part of the reason people go at all. Pastors who try to de-emphasize that, and stress other things like lecturing people about their sins and their "duty to God", might well find members decamping to more congenial competitors, which would be bad for those "dollars in the collection".
For your own case, I'm not sure what to recommend. Churches that emphasize the worship function do exist, but they tend to be the fundamentalist / evangelical ones. Perhaps, as Anon suggests, you should try starting your own. But it would be best to try to assess, first, how much demand is out there for such an institution.
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