{"id":13030,"date":"2012-11-20T11:20:51","date_gmt":"2012-11-20T19:20:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?p=13030"},"modified":"2012-11-18T17:48:49","modified_gmt":"2012-11-19T01:48:49","slug":"should-i-go-to-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/should-i-go-to-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Should I Go to Church?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

This is a Guest Post by John Walker, one of the authors in the forthcoming book,\u00a0Finding Church<\/em>.<\/a>\u00a0John and his wife are retired and enjoy gardening, walking their dogs, and cooking.<\/p>\n

If you would like to write a guest post for this blog,\u00a0<\/span>check out the guidelines here.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Sunday was a beautiful day. When I woke up, the sun was already shining and the birds were singing. I decided to take an early morning hike.<\/p>\n

\"wildThe spring wildflowers were blooming in all their glory, as pretty as I\u2019ve ever seen them. The early morning dew quickly soaked my shoes as I crossed meadows and climbed into the foothills.<\/p>\n

After my hike I had planned to swim and catch some rays on a comfortable lounge by the pool. But something about the beauty of the day made me want to worship God. I decided to go to church.<\/p>\n

The music had already begun when I arrived. Everyone was singing a song I had never heard, a song about how much God cares for us. The song ended and the pastor told us to greet those around us. I didn\u2019t know anyone. But everyone else seemed to know each other. Just as everyone was sitting down, two of the people in front of me turned to me and said \u201cHello, glad to have you here.\u201d No one asked my name.<\/p>\n

The pastor preached a sermon about obeying God, but I don\u2019t remember much of what he said. However, I remember the ten or fifteen minutes after the last prayer very well.<\/p>\n

Here I Am! Here I Am! Hello!<\/h2>\n

After the prayer the pastor announced that he needed to meet with \u201cthe board\u201d in a room in the back. The pastor and a group of people quickly exited.<\/p>\n

The people who had been sitting near me all turned to people they seemed to know and began talking. Since no one turned to me, I decided to get coffee and a doughnut at the coffee table.<\/p>\n

The woman on duty at the coffee table smiled at me, and then turned to talk to someone else. I stepped away and moved near a group of people who were engaged in conversation. One woman turned and headed toward me.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeautiful day, isn\u2019t it?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, yeah it is,\u201d she said as she hurried past.<\/p>\n

Two more people passed me. They both said hello and asked how I was, but never paused for even a moment so I might answer.<\/p>\n

I thought I\u2019d try my luck elsewhere. Spotting the pastor\u2019s wife, who for some reason wasn\u2019t in \u201cthe board\u201d meeting, I approached her and repeated my comment about the beautiful day. She said it was about time we had a beautiful day and then told me she needed to talk to someone else.<\/p>\n

Next I approached a couple who were not talking to anyone. After greeting them, they asked where I worked. When I told them, they said the wife was looking for a job and asked me if my company had any job openings. I told them what I knew. They thanked me, turned and walked away.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d Rather Go to Brunch<\/h2>\n

Looking across the room, I saw that everyone appeared to be talking to someone. I stood there alone and watched for several more minutes, then decided I wanted to go to a restaurant for brunch.<\/p>\n

Brunch was delicious. I ate too much, but wished I had followed through with my plans to spend some quality time by the pool after my hike. At least I\u2019d have a nice tan. As it was, I\u2019d heard music that I didn\u2019t know, a sermon that I couldn\u2019t remember and had watched people talk to each other. No one had told me their name and no one had asked me my name.<\/p>\n

I felt so anonymous.<\/p>\n

So I asked myself then, and continue to ask myself now, “Why should I go to church?”<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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