The Church Habit

-

I almost didn’t go to church today. There was a family retreat happening this weekend, so pretty much my whole Sunday School class was gone. I’m having a colonoscopy tomorrow (the joys of growing old), so I have all that jolly fun prep stuff going on, plus some other medical issues I don’t need to go into now. I mean, I could come up with all sorts of reasons NOT to go to church this morning.

My guy told me recently that the typical regular church attender averages 2.5 Sundays per month these days. So, it’s really no big deal for me to miss once in a while, I suppose. I certainly do better than average.

I think. Well, I know I used to.

I grew up in one of THOSE Southern Baptist families, you know: if the church building was unlocked, we were in there. Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, special events . . . we even hunted down a Southern Baptist church to attend when we were on vacation. It simply wasn’t an option to just NOT go to church on a Sunday morning unless you were at death’s door (and even then, the Lord’s house seems like the place to be).

So, the conditioning is strong in me: Sunday morning = church. Period. My ex was the same way, so this is a habit 54 years in the making.

And . . . then . . . covid. Yeah, you all saw that coming.

Being the introvert that I am, online church was a lovely thing. Get all your worship on in the comfort of your own living room in your PJs with the dog in your lap and no hanging around for vapid small talk in the foyer. Now I’ll admit, after a year or so, it was great to go back in person – I actually teared up during my first service back in the sanctuary. But y’all, it is really nice having online services as an option when I need them. Like when I had covid this summer . . . and then when I hurt my foot . . . and later when I had that bad cold . . . and that one Sunday when I was just, like, really tired . . . and, um, yeah . . .

It is with shame I admit that with the daughters moved out and no other human being in the house to nudge me out the door or be accountable to, I find online church to be a screaming temptation from the hand of Satan. Not that it’s a sin to stay home and watch church on the TV. It’s not. Don’t think you’re hearing me say that.

But the Enemy knows even better than I do that I can’t do this Christianity thing alone. I need a tribe: brothers and sisters walking alongside, sharing the struggles, laughing at the screw-ups, picking me up and dusting me off, pushing, encouraging, admonishing, being there. And it’s much easier to be there when you’re literally there – in physical proximity to one another.

If there’s one truth my spiritual walk has taught me over the years, it’s that we are not meant to be lone ranger Christians. We are members of a body. We need each other. When I try to stand alone, I fall. Every time.

So, I pulled on a decent outfit and drove myself to church today. Some habits are worth keeping.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

This One Person

-
Image
Y’all, God has blessed me with really good people in my life. People who love me, support me, appreciate me, and go out of their way for me. The gifts and kind words and all-day-long singing I received on my birthday last week were small examples of that. Seriously, friends . . . how do I deserve you? So many good people. So, I really shouldn’t give as much attention as I do to the one exception, right? One person. There’s just this one person . They are a constant burr in my saddle these days. They make my life harder – and if this isn’t intentional on their part, or at least passive aggressive, it is most certainly selfish. In almost everything they do, they seem to communicate a lack of respect for me.  It’s only one person. Why do I let this one person affect me so much? We’ve all got our baggage, you know. I’ve shared some of mine before here in this blog. One particular parcel I tote around unseen is an unspoken message I’ve heard in my heart since childhood – particula
Read more

Life is People-y

-
Image
I love my job. Really, I really, really do. But my place of employment has had a few rocky years. Every once in a while, we come to a point where I say to myself, Okay, time for a fresh start. The old issues are over. The people who were discontented have left or are appeased. Now we can move forward and have peace. Bu-u-ut no. There’s always something. I’m starting to come to terms with the fact that even though I love my job, there will always be stressors I’m dealing with. Because as my colleague says, it’s a very people-y job. And people are . . . well, people . People are wounded. Everyone has been damaged by someone and bears the scars. And that damage often bleeds out in our behavior toward others. People are fearful. They are afraid of making mistakes. They are afraid of saying the wrong thing. They are afraid of confrontation. They are afraid of burning bridges. They are afraid of being labeled and unliked. People are selfish. Even when they want to be self-less, they
Read more

Hopeful Reality

-
Image
This past July, I spent a couple crazy weeks working at Crystal Sea Drama Company (which I casually refer to as “my theater” because I've spent so much time there over the past decade). It was the year for our New Play Festival, which I’ve said many times is the best thing we do. CSDC students wrote the plays, CSDC alumni directed the plays, and CSDC campers performed the plays. Last fall, I taught the playwriting class preparing for this big event. There were six girls in the class – more than I’ve ever had for a playwriting class. They were all writers already. Most of them had novels in progress, and some of them had two or three they were working on. But writing a play . . . that’s a different kettle of fish, they learned. And it was a fun few months working with them in that endeavor. I was proud of the work they ended the semester with. Only three of them chose to have their plays performed in the festival, which was fine. But not until we were rehearsing this summer did
Read more

INFECTION

-
Image
Y’all, I’ve had two colds in the past three months. That doesn’t sound like a big deal, but for me it can be. If I don’t treat my colds early and effectively, they grow into monsters that do me in for a month or more. That’s what happened in June. I came home from a trip sick. I mean, sick . Sicker than I’ve been for a long time. And that cold progressed into a wicked chest cough that hung around for the rest of the month, even after my doctor prescribed an antibiotic and a heavy-duty cough suppressant (which wasn’t cheap, let me tell you). I mean, people, IT SUCKS. Then the first morning of the second week of school, I woke up with the inkling of soreness in my throat and felt a bit of panic. Thankfully, because I was home this time at that first hint of a symptom, I was able to start taking my Zinc, Selenium, and Vitamin C immediately. That’s my happy little cocktail that seems to kick these little infections out the door if I start it early. The cold came . . . but it was very m
Read more