As hubby and I visit a different church each week in our quest for a home church, we are now asking different questions, harder questions.
Questions such as:
if we enjoy the preaching, is that reason enough to choose a church? For there is no guarantee that the regular preaching pastor will stay.
is what we see and experience at a worship service what we should base our decision on?
should we find a church that is a good fit for us, and then commit, or just make a choice, commit and then make it fit?
Recently I took a Sunday off, and didn’t go to church. Stayed in my pjs until noon, got a few things done around the house, and just enjoyed a quiet house to myself. Though this was not my first time playing hooky from church, though I have had beautiful and memorable times of Sabbath at home in the past … this time was different.
This time I kept thinking about much I wanted to be part of a church, to be part of a small group, to walk in the doors and be greeted by familiar faces, to serve where there is a need that we can meet, to sing, to learn, to grow with others. To be fed with fork and knife (not from a bottle).
We are not going to find the ‘perfect’ church, for, if such a place existed, it would be tarnished as soon as we entered it’s doors. We aren’t going to always love the songs that are sung, or how, or by whom. We aren’t always going to relate (or even like … did I just say that?) everyone we meet … pastoral staff included.
But,
if there is warmth in it’s walls,
if there is welcome to the imperfect,
if there is a joy in the worship
generosity in the giving
humility in the praying
Good News in the preaching
and invitation to serve …
then we will need to go, and go every week.
For it is in the going, every week, that the church becomes not just a habit, but a healthy dependency.
