Why Do You Go to Church?
I’ve asked this question at least once in a sermon in every church I’ve served. Why do we go to Church? I think it’s an incredibly important question right now because there are, quite frankly, so many other options on a Sunday morning – far more than when I was a kid and multiples more than when my parents were children.
Consider: you might want instead to sleep in, or catch up on some work, or go shopping, or meet a friend for coffee at Starbucks, or run through some email, or read the paper (online or the old paper and ink variety), or go to your kid’s soccer match or hockey game, or see what you missed this week on your DVR, or watch a film on demand or…. The list goes on and on.
Which makes me curious. Why do those of us who still go to church – which remains the one activity done by more people than any other in the U.S. – actually go?
There are a lot of reasons, I realize, perhaps as many as people in attendance. And while some of those reasons – to make a parent, spouse, or significant other happy, for instance – reflect more external motivations than internal, I think there are still lots of internal reasons folks choose to spend part of their Sunday morning at church. Some go for community, while others because it’s an important part of their identity. Some go to see friends, while others hope for guidance in how they live. And so on.
But while there are lots of good reasons to go to church, the one that gets me out of bed and to the sanctuary most frequently is a sense of need, even desperation. I realize that might sound odd. But here’s the thing: I’ve come to believe that the good news is just too hard to believe for more than about 7 days in a row.
Think about it. Each and every week, we hear the news that the God who created and still sustains this vast cosmos not only knows that you and I exist…but actually gives a damn. More than that, that God cares deeply and passionately about our ups and down, ins and outs, hopes and heartbreaks, successes and failures. And even more than that, that God cares about us enough to send Jesus that we might know and believe just how much God loves us.
Do you see what I mean? That news is so good it almost sounds too good to be true. And while it might sound great on Sunday, by Friday – and some weeks, let’s face it, by Monday afternoon – it seems very hard to believe. And so we come back to church week in and week out to hear the good news of God’s love, forgiveness, and grace, that we might leave encouraged to believe it – and, even harder, to live it – for one more week.
I recently came across a video of Pope Francis asking and answering a similar question. Why do sinners go to Mass, he asks. The key word in his answer is right in the middle of his question: “sinners.” The people who go to church don’t go because they think they’re perfect but because they – we – know ourselves to be in need of Christ’s forgiveness and look forward to being renewed by our time in worship. In just over two minutes, Pope Francis gets to the heart of the matter – that we go each week to hear of God’s forgiving love and leave trying to live into that forgiveness, love, and a world of new possibility. It’s a great message for Lent and, quite frankly, just about anytime.
Notes: 1) Thanks to Mary Hess, on whose blog Tensegrities I found this video.
2) If you are receiving this post by email, you may need to click on the title at the top of the post to watch the video.
And I wonder if that’s also the reason people don’t go to church. “Sinners!” all.
It seems the church wants only to see us and receive us as “sinners.” I believe I am so much more than that. I have hopes and dreams, fears and anxiety, I feel lonely and trapped, I need to be touched and loved, I have needs and gifts, I am creative and I fail, I hurt! My relationships struggle. And more.
Yes, you, the church will say it all comes down to sin. How facile. One problem and you have the answer. How arrogant! How narrow-minded! Judge me if you will, but I think the judgment has been pronounced on the church. It has sinned against God’s people and it is dying.
I am not just sinner, and it doesn’t seem to me the church cares about that. Our entrance rite on Sundays is about my sinfulness. The Eucharist is about my sin. The church is so fixated on sin that it can’t see people as people, only sinners. Oh yes, we give lip service to other “problems,” but I have no confidence that we take it seriously.
Does the church really want to hear what’s going on in people’s lives, or just treat us as caricatures colored by sin? Why should I go to church? I already know God knows me and loves me. I’m not sure the church ever will.
You are very right. We are more than our sin. I think we need to see sin as more than doing something wrong or not doing what we should do. What if we defined sin as all that separates us from God? My own anxiety can separate me from God, but it can also bring me closer to God. I go to church because I need to hear the words, God is for you and you and you and you. God accepts you and calls you to action. Don’t give up on the Church. It is flawed but it is still a vehicle for God to come to us with love and grace.
Thank you for hearing me.
I think you also identified a big problem with the church. It wants to create definitions that call the issues of life “sin,” and then apply its single answer. The church can create whatever definitions it wants, but if its language doesn’t speak to those outside (and far too many inside) the church, then what’s the point?
As you said, one’s anxiety can also bring one closer to God. So the definition of sin as whatever separates me from God becomes ambiguous. (Yes, I’ve used that definition too, I’m afraid)
The church’s reputation for equivocation separates many from God. Sadly the church is not always (or is rarely) the vehicle, but has often been the barrier to God’s love and grace for many. And its drivers and passengers have done far too much damage. Hence, separation not just from the church, but from God.
The church and God’s people through the ages have been so enamored of sin, that it still calls the words from Mt. Sinai “the Ten Commandmants.” For years I have referred to those same words as “the Ten Promises.” (But I’m also accused of taking God’s grace too far.) God’s people tend to turn most of God’s word into law (cf: the law of love) So God’s love comes after God’s threat.
While we inside the church want to see our message as good news, that’s not necessarily the prevailing view outside the church. Of course the church’s history doesn’t help our reputation. Nor do we want to acknowledge what those outside the church think about us.
Yes, I hurt.
My humble sharing…I believe we go to church for many reasons. Of course, we are sinners. That’s why we pray every day asking for help, guidance, and forgiveness from our God. I believe the primary reason we go to church is to be in relationship with our loving, gracious God and with others. For me, I am fed…not only with the gift of the Eucarist, but I learn from the words shared by our Pastors, and I grow in my relationship with God. I also grow from the fellowship we share…getting to know each other.
Yes, Craig, you are much more than a sinner – we all are…we are, primarily I believe, beloved children of God …each with unique and wonderful gifts God has given us to share with others. That’s the relationship, I believe. We are all brothers and sisters in God’s great family. This world is richly blessed, with ample resources for all to have all they need. I believe we are called to be God’s blessings in this world.
Craig – your honest sharings, your story, is – I believe – similar to the story each and every one of us has. In our church, our faith family, we treasure each person. We want to hear their stories and, together, discover God in the midst of all our joys, struggles, doubts, failures.
I believe we come together to be together – with each other and our God.
Craig – I don’t know where you live but, if you ever are near Ambler, PA, we’d love to welcome you to Upper Dublin Lutheran Church. There are many churches, I am sure, where you would experience the love and grace of God and the fellowship of His people. I pray you find such a place – where you can be nurtured, fed, treasured and loved for the wonderful person God created you to be. Have a most blessed day!
In Love and Prayer,
Livvy
It’s so good to raise this topic on a regular basis. It’s also important to be reminded that we are not so clearly two-dimensional (thank you, Craig, for your comment.)
I know that for many leaders in the church, the true label of “sinners” is more than just a caricature but a deep understanding/truth/belief the leader has of her or himself. I know it is for me. And I know that many people are helped by having that named out loud in public.
I am also grateful for the reminder that we are more than sinners. I believe that to be true because of, and only because of, Jesus. And Jesus cares about the complexities of my life and seeks to raise my whole life up from the “sinner” grave.
Last Sunday’s lectionary text, John 4:5-42, tells me that my whole life is important to Jesus. He brings value to me (even asking me for a drink! see v. 7) and when I encounter Jesus in my day-to-day life I can’t help it — I want to share it with others! This is also why I want to be in worship on a Sunday morning.
I sense we “are the church – the body of Christ” called to make a “difference in our normal most holy daily life”. God desires, calls, invites us to gather on the Sabbath for worship and to also to rest.
I sense we are “the church” the “presence of Christ for the world”. We gather on the Sabbath with others to worship: confess, be forgiven welcome the presence of the one who is the word, to give and to receive, and to rest all which prepare us to “be the presence of Christ for others/the world
Thanks, all, for a great discussion. Rather than respond to it all here, I’ve tried to some of things raised here in today’s post.
Craig,
Question for you: how do you define “sin?” I think that might be helpful in understanding he thrust of this post.
As a Lutheran, I agree: we are both saint and sinner, simultaneously. Separate the two, and we dehumanize ourselves. You capture that rightly in a “sinner only” view; but I wonder if a “saint only” view falls just as short.
That is what the church confesses, and it’s implicit here. By denying our limitations as humans (why haven’t we eliminated war? Poverty? Violence?) something is lost. Something isn’t right. It’s bigger an just “pulling together” and “changing the world.”
The church struggles, in much the same way we individuals do, with keeping things in proper perspective. That perspective involves properly appreciating the “goodness” of what God has created in us, while reserving our greatest appreciation for Him who created us to be great in the first place.
One way to get the perspective wrong is called the theology of glory. In a recent posting in the Christian Post (http://www.christianpost.com/news/theology-of-glory-vs-theology-of-the-cross-78119/) Tullian Tchividjian says this:
(O)ur churches often espouse a Christianized version of this gospel of progress, framing the life of belief as primarily about personal improvement. What may start out as a faithful by-product of Christian belief soon becomes its focal point, inadvertently serving as the foothold for Original Sin, aka the innate God complex hiding within us all. Such is the default curved-in-on-itself position of the human heart, or what Augustine termed incurvatus in se.
For me, the confession with which we open every Sunday worship service serves as the reset button for my heart, which has invariably gone back to its default condition of believing that I am responsible for most of the good I sense in me and in my life, and that others are probably responsible for most or all of whatever may have run amuck .
As to the Eucharist being another reminder of my sin, I have to say that simply doesn’t compute for me. I understand the sacrament and receive it as gifts of grace—a weekly restoration of my battered faith, forgiveness of my failings, and a tangible reminder of how much I am loved and valued for who I am—not who I ought to be.
Thanks to all for the thought-provoking discussion.
I’d like to echo some of what Craig brings up…that the church often does more to make people feel miserable than they do to present abundant life or the message of the love of God. Too often, the church in its many “brands” and denominations and non-denominations give confusing messages to people about who God is, who we are, and what it all means.
If we are (and I believe we are) MORE than physical beings, but actually magnificent spiritual beings with an individual aura that is unique to each of us, capable of doing great things…Jesus said we would do greater things than he, then why doesn’t the church celebrate our magnificent spiritual beings? Why is the message so often about our lack and inadequacies?
If Jesus did save us, then what did he do it for and why are we still so uncertain about it? Because of the church and its wishy-washy messages of “you are not good enough”, you are a sinner, you are somehow to blame for the ills of the world, and “we…this particular brand of church/Christianity…have the answers if you believe just right. Otherwise, you are doomed.
It’s pretty difficult to listen to all these mixed messages and also to deal with other believers of one’s own faith let alone other faiths!!! One wants to simply throw up and give up.
Do you remember this gift from Garrison Keillor’s The Writer’s Almanac:
Poems: “He Attempts to Love His Neighbours,” by Alden Nowlan, from Selected Poems.
He Attempts to Love His Neighbours
My neighbours do not wish to be loved.
They have made it clear that they prefer to go peacefully
about their business and want me to do the same.
This ought not to surprise me as it does;
I ought to know by now that most people have a hundred things
they would rather do than have me love them.
There is television, for instance; the truth is that almost everybody,
given the choice between being loved and watching TV,
would choose the latter. Love interrupts dinner,
interferes with mowing the lawn, washing the car,
or walking the dog. Love is a telephone ringing or a doorbell
waking you moments after you’ve finally succeeded in getting to sleep.
So we must be careful, those of us who were born with
the wrong number of fingers or the gift
of loving; we must do our best to behave
like normal members of society and not make nuisances
of ourselves; otherwise it could go hard with us.
It is better to bite back your tears, swallow your laughter,
and learn to fake the mildly self-deprecating titter
favoured by the bourgeoisie
than to be left entirely alone, as you will be,
if your disconformity embarrasses
your neighbours; I wish I didn’t keep forgetting that.
I go because I don’t get thrown out when I tell “my people” I love them, God loves them, and they love each other.
It’s good to know that attending church worship services can help you to see the goodness of God in your life. My wife and I have been looking for a way to recognize the divine blessings that are manifest in our lives, and attending church might be the perfect way for us to do that. We’ll be looking further into our options for local worship services in the weeks to come.