Why Church?
May 15, 2006
The hardest thing for me about attending church is my familiarity with the whole deal. I grew up in a preacher's home and I have been on staff at various churches in some role for almost 12 years. I have attended a variety of worship services from the Don't-even-think-about-making-a-sound-in- here to the did-we-even-talk-about-God-at-all experience and everything in between. It's hard for me to even sit in a service and not immediately start dissecting elements. My brain is messed up - I know that and I have to deal with that. BUT, before you begin to think I have become a cynic (which there have been times in my life that I definitely fell into that category) I do have something positive to say. In the last year, I have sensed in my soul a need to connect the past with the present when I worship God corporately more than ever-total connection. I didn't grow up with alot of tradition in our worship style which I think gave me the opportunity as a teenager to engage with my dad in planning services. However, there is something that stirs in my heart when I hear about how faith in Christ has withstood the ages through wars, sickness, government, and man's arrogance. When I participate in responsive readings written many years ago, I feel connected to those writers. When I read aloud from God's Word with other people who are on this journey with me, I feel connected to them. When I sing a song written last week, I am overwhelmed at the freshness of God's Spirit in our lives. When I sing a song I have known since childhood, I am connected to a God that knew me before I really knew Him. This TOTAL connection I speak of I experienced yesterday when I attended Trinity Church in Greenwich, Conn. There was a freshness as well as a respect for the sacred that engaged me wholeheartedly. I worshiped God and my heart was encouraged. Thank you, Ian, and your team for creating a worship experience that allowed me, the calloused-sometimes-cynical worshiper to drop my guard for a moment and commune with God.