Why do you go to church?

Ever ask yourself why you go to church? Many of us live a life of habit and assumptions. We run through the motions and thoughts that constitute a comfortable and stable life.

But do we take time to consider the reasons why we go to church? Our lives can go on for months or years without any reflection, until the balance and stability of our lives is shattered by a crisis - the loss of a job, health problems, the death of a family member, etc. Then everything begins to be questioned.

Sadly, for many people, going to church is a personal decision that does not cost anything or gain anything. There appears to be no compelling cultural, political or economic reason to go to church.

So why do you go to church? For many of us the answer is because we feel as if we should go, out of a sense of obligation or duty. Perhaps our parents or pastor told us that going to church was simply "the right thing to do." We may have certain images of ourselves that are nurtured by church attendance. We want people to think we are good, wholesome people - "church-goers" - because being a "church-goer" keeps us on the "straight and narrow."

Some approach church attendance by looking at needs. We may attend church to find peace, to calm our anxious, stressful lives, or to have a religious experience that makes us feel a certain way. We may even be seeking something or someone outside ourselves that will give new meaning or hope to our lives.

As an artist and one who loves ambiance, I can relate to those who go to church to find beauty and art in the experience. Maybe it is the atmosphere, the smells, the architecture, the music, the lights/candles or the poetic language of scripture that draws you in. If that is the case, church becomes an aesthetic experience, often no different than going to a nice spa or an art gallery. Ironically, people can enjoy the beauty of church without any formal Christian belief. This also can be true of the moral and spiritual reasons for going to church. They do not require commitment to any formal Christian faith.

And then there are those who feel a sense of guilt. "I have sinned, so I better go to church." Those who find themselves in trouble or whose life has taken on a heightened sense of uncertainty think that church will be the fix. They go to church to have God grant them their need or desire. But God is not a magical genie Who can be bribed.

I ask again, why do you go to church? The phrase "go to church" sounds as if the church is there for us, whether we attend or not. Let's remember that we do not "go to church," we go to "be the church."

The reasons given for "going to church" (moral obligation, our needs, aesthetic experience and crisis fixing) have one common theme. They start with ourselves. When we go to be the church, we encounter God and participate in the life of God's people. Church is not how we fit God into our lives; church is where we find our place in God. Church is not there simply or only to meet our needs. Church is the venue from which we have life and have it abundantly.

By Dr. Robert S. Henry
Pastor, Silverton Friends Church

A Critical Eye for Encouragement - A Peace Month Thought

Grandma used to say, “If you can’t say something good about somebody or something, don’t say anything at all.” How many times have you heard that saying? Yet, why do we find it so hard to live up to that old saying, especially in the church?

Too often, I find myself and others having a “critical spirit” about the church or more appropriately the people within the building on Sunday morning. It seems everyone gets a shot taken at them – the usher who encouraged us to sit in a new section, the person who couldn’t get the right words up on the screen for verse four of the song, the preacher who “stopped preachin’ and went to meddlin’,” or the person who wouldn’t excuse their crying child from the sanctuary. It seems we have a critical eye on every aspect of what we label “church”.

And it doesn’t stop there. Our young children with “big ears” and innocent hearts repeat the words their parents share on the ride home from the worship service. “I heard Dad tell Mom that there was a big shot in the pulpit today, the choir murdered the anthem, and the music team drowned out our singing.” You and I may laugh at this because it may be true, but many times we know that the words used are even more destructive and biting than the example given.

Instead of a climate of peace necessary for the production of honesty, virtue and uprightness, we worship our God in an atmosphere that is anything but peaceful. It is as if we sit in the congregation judging a performance – much like Randy Jackson, Steve Tyler, or Jennifer Lopez with their latest victim on American Idol. The problem with our critical spirit is that most of the time we don’t even see the seriousness of the critical spirit until it has taken a toll on our spiritual lives and robbed us, and those around us, of our peace. We begin to realize that something is completely out of whack in our lives, but we can’t always put a finger on what it is.

Over the years, I have found that different things lead to having a critical spirit. It may be caused by external things around us or it may come from internal thoughts, beliefs or motives. Many times setting our heart on having our own way causes us to drift away from God. In turn we develop an obsessive attitude of criticism and fault-finding, which seeks to tear others down — not the same thing as what is sometimes called “constructive criticism.” The only criticism that is ever constructive is that which is expressed in love to “build up,” not to tear down — it is always expressed face-to-face, never behind one’s back.

Taking a moment to evaluate my own thoughts and views led me to realize that my critical spirit usually originates out of my own selfishness. Now, I have found that it is not so important to analyze the cause as much as it is to come up with a solution. Ironically, that takes me back full-circle to the reason I should be going to church in the first place.

The Bible says that the reason that we are to come together as a church is, not to criticize, but to “exhort” (encourage) one another (Hebrews 10:25). “Cursing the darkness” won’t change anything, but you and I must light a candle and “expose the light” of God’s Word. By sharing the truth of His Word, and encouraging people to live in its truth, we can all be changed.

Love and encouragement can and must become the “motivational force.”

If we ever hope to bring improvement in others and in our churches, we need to become people of encouragement. This is the only attitude that will change people, and our actions and words must be devoted to encouraging the spiritual progress of our brothers and sisters.

As the church of God, do you and I build people up or tear people down? Next time we are ready to criticize someone, let’s remember God’s law of love and say something good instead. Remember Grandma’s Motto “If you can’t say something good about someone or something, don’t say anything at all.”

An Advent Conspiracy Prayer

O Lord, every day I drive the city streets, isolated from others by my speed, my heater*, and my radio. Each workday I sit in my office, buffered from people and sights and sounds that might distract me from my work. Every evening I see horrible things on the news that are promptly smothered in commercials and silly sitcoms. It's easy to lose any sense of concern, to feel compassion only as a fleeting twinge, to accept no responsibility for lives that are only a view from my car window or a picture on my TV screen. Help me, O God. Save my soul from drowning in comfort, efficiency, entertainment, and isolation.

-- Walter C. Sutton
*the original reads "air conditioning"

Advent: A Video

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A Prayer of Thanksgiving

To us, your children,
Father, you have opened your hands and have shared with us the wonders of your world:
sun and sky,
leaf and flower,
surf and shore.

In your grace,
Father, you have given us one another. Into our keeping you have placed our selves that, united in your love, we may mold your earth into a home for each and every person: where we may live in peace and share in the love that alone warms life and gives its meaning.

For this, all of these things both small and great, and for the greatness caught within the smallest of your creatures we thank you.

Father, despite our best, our world is still weighted with sorrow: your sons and daughters still go hungry; your children take up the weapons of Cain against their brothers and sisters; we gouge the face of your world with greed and leave a wasteland where nothing, not even your children, may grow.

Keep us thankful,
Father, so that we may touch all things, and all people only with the delicacy of reverence and love. Keep us aware of the work, your work, that you have given into our hands. For only in your Spirit will your kingdom come, and that day shine when all people will see clearly that there is indeed reason for thanksgiving.

This, all of this, we ask in your Spirit, through our Lord and brother Christ Jesus.
Amen.

Adapted from: Home Celebrations, by Lawerence E. Moser, S.J. 1970