As part of our effort to return to a normal life after my long years of sleep in the Ivory Tower, Darling Wife and I have decided to begin attending church again. We both grew up with church as a major part of our lives, and we have both missed it since we moved to CA.
I am not going to get into my spiritual beliefs; that is a long blog post all by itself, and I have another axe to grind today. Besides, my faith has always been a deeply private matter between me and God. However, I will say that Darling Wife and I are from different faith backgrounds, and finding a church that will suit us is not an easy task. I also admit that I am very picky. I want the church's beliefs to be in agreement with my own; I want the pastor/priest/rector to be intelligent and charismatic; and I want the congregation to be welcoming without smothering. That's a lot to ask for, I know.
Well, with our goals in mind, DW and I have been visiting churches over the past few weeks, and once again I am disappointed in what we have found. (We had similar experiences in Boston.) The churches we have visited have fallen into two categories. The first are ritualistic, hierarchical, tradition-based churches in which the priests/rectors/ministers perform liturgies (ceremonies) complete with resplendent robes and processions, and the congregation follows a rigid program of responses, prayers, and kneeling. This type of church is usually very pretty and comfortingly familiar, but I seldom feel like I have any contact with a living God when I attend them. It seems like they just go through the motions of faith.
The second type of church claims to be different in that they have dispensed with all of the "tired, old forms" in order to create something more dynamic. But I find that they are no freer or any more in contact with God than their predecessors. True, everyone calls the pastor by first name, and they wear shorts and t-shirts to church; there are chairs instead of pews; there are bands instead of organs; and they use really high-tech AV equipment instead of hymnals. But all of this is just replacing one ritual for another, in my opinion. If you really pay attention, you can see that beneath the surface, they are still critical of anyone who doesn't conform to their view of christianity. A pair of slacks, to their way of thinking, brands you as spiritually dead. If you don't want to drink coffee with them before, between, and after services, then they think you are not embracing a christian lifestyle. And if you don't literally jump up and down during worship service and sing enthusiastically with a giant smile on your face, then you don't truly have the joy of the Lord.
Puhlease. How dare they! This isn't acceptance of others in christian fellowship. This isn't an effort to be close to God. This is the same old book of judgement with a different cover. These churches miss the real point of christianity while they focus so much on making their music more like a rock concert than communion with God. I know they would argue with me about this, but I can't help but think it's all still just form over function. Their attention to the trappings distract them from what they should be trying to achieve. Have they forgotten their purpose in their desperate scramble to be "different" and "better?" Who are they really trying to please, God or themselves? I don't think God cares about all of that stuff.
At the church we attended yesterday, one of this second type, half the congregation slid in late in their flip-flops and cell phones went off during the sermon. Now, I'm sure God doesn't care when people show up or what they are wearing, but I can't help but think that we should. If we can't be bothered to arrive on time, put a little effort into our appearance, and turn off our electronic dependency devices, then what does that say about where our hearts are and where our priorites lie?
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3 comments:
Excellent post! I understand both your desire and your frustration.
Part of what has kept me out of churches all together the last several years is just that kind of judging that goes on in them. In some ways, the ritualitic, traditional churches are almost more comforting because they aren't the new kids on the block that the reformers are - they don't feel the need so much to justify their existence by embracing a new set of rules and trying to foist them on everyone.
There are some "reformed" or "new" branches of older churches that have relaxed the ritual while retaining the respect so to speak. My sense is you might find what you're looking for there, but then again, I haven't found one of those in a long time, so maybe they're extinct by now. Let's hope not, so that people who do want to worship in a judgement-free, non-ritualistically-bound way are able to do so.
Good luck in your search.
I keep thinking I need to find a church here. But I'm not sure I'd be comfortable in any congregation -- and, mostly, I'm just not sure how/where to begin.
By any chance does Type 2 belong to the Unitarian branch? I always thought those services would be interesting to attend.
I'm interested to hear how this turns out.
Weeelll....we have attended two Unitarian churches while in Boston, but I didn't actually have them in mind when I wrote the post. The type 2 churches are usually Assemblies of God, Charismatic, or nondenominational churches, recognized by their nonspecific names, like "New Song Christian Center" or "Family Christian Fellowship."
My experience with the Unitarians is that they are not really christians. Oh, they will argue with you about that one, but I think they should heed the dream of St. Benedict on this matter. If God accused Benedict of being a Ciceronian instead of a christian, then the Unitarians are Emersonians. Their churches contain busts of him, and their hymnals contain poems by Whittier. No crosses, no saints, nothing remotely christian in symbolism, except perhaps a dove. But all of the arts are respected and admired in their church. I think they had the best choir I have ever heard, and the architecture of the building was unique and pleasing. And their sermons sound more like literature seminars than christian messages. There was nothing mentioned about obedience, worship, or sacrifice. It was all about being morally and philosophically "good," which I believe christianity advocates, but the Unitarians we heard removed the reason for this goodness, which is God's will and a desire to live by it. In fact, I don't believe the word God or Jesus was uttered either time we were there. They've even edited their Bible to remove all references to God as gendered. He was some nameless spirit.
I have to admit, as a scholar and intellectual, I really enjoyed the experience. Darling Wife felt the same. And had it been at a museum or a university, I would have absolutely no complaints. But church it most definitely was not.
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