Thursday, July 19, 2007

why I went to church

I didn't get "converted," by some method, experience, or preacher.

but that story is for another day...

I did however, come to the place where Jesus was really compelling to me. Like the 90%+ of americans who agree in polls that they believe in God and pray. But less than 50% go to church, and in Ashland it is a little over 30%.

why?

Same reason I didn't go I suppose. Who wants to:

  1. get up early Sunday morning and face the aftermath of last nights events, their hangover, etc.
  2. the lake looks like a lot more fun
  3. large angry men in suits yelling at me is what I experience all week at my job / school...thanks but no thanks
  4. the twilight zone trip to 1950 complete with pipe organ etc, is just too chessy to bother with
  5. they are after my time and money...yikes! That is why I have spam blockers and caller-id...why would I LOOK for these people
  6. look in the paper at what the last preacher-man did!
  7. etc...

All of those are fun, real, cynical, and sarcastic reasons not to go. That's why I didn't go.

But why did I go...anyways?

  1. spirituality can be done solo, but finding a mentor might help with all these questions I have
  2. maybe...just maybe...there is a community that will act like Jesus and love me unconditionally
  3. I think this stuff is real, but I need a little teaching to get a handle on the whole system. It feels organic and holistic as a lifestyle, I just need some help
  4. there is an outside shot that there is some great dream [Like JFK's, or Martin Luther King, or Ghandi] that is bigger than me that I can throw my life into. Not a silly institution...but a revolution of love
  5. jesus hung out with normal, even freaky people. maybe he loves me, just as I am. and maybe there is a normal jesus [not stuck in 1950] who has disciples / followers who talk like real people, laugh, have fun, serve the lonely and poor...I really want to find those people
  6. my cynicism, while fun...isn't very satisfying. instead of tearing down everything I think is false and pretentious, I want to be a part of building something real and authentic. It may stumble around [like I do] but somebody at least trying to live the dreams of God in this world

And so I stumbled in one day [mildly hungover]...and yes it was freaky and far from perfect. But I found some real people and some real answers in the midst of weird religion. And YES I found a real relationship with God along the way [despite the strange religious nutjobs all around me] And later on I found some other churches, ones that really were what I could handle.

hmmm

how about you?

1 comments:

danamydannyaaronanna said...

i was born into the church, thanks to my grandparents, and went through the motions of the catholic church. it turned out i learned more from them than i did in church or catechicm combined. after confirmation at 16 i was on my own and for the first time realized that i didn this because i had to---not b/c i wanted to. I had no accountability or supportive peer group. most of them decided it was cooler to take the wine from the priest's office.


so i tried the fake it til i make it approach becaue i thought that if people knew that i knew God then they would like me and there would be acceptance.... uh-huh...right!

get through the rest of HS adn college..... and then a brilliant concept --- I WAS INVITED TO CHURCH AGAIN!!!!

i accepted the invitation and figured it couldnt be any worse that what my life at that time revealed to me. one 1 condition----none of that holy moly hand raising business!!!! it's still not for me...God is more concerned with where my heart is than my hands....... and that's just one of hundrds of things i would've never learned if i wasn't invited abck to church......

 

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