WHAT CHURCH SHOULD BE, OR WHY I LOVE GOING TO CHURCH:
By Krista Dutt, First Church of the Brethren, Chicago
In the church statistic world, I don’t fit. I am one of those almost 30 something’s that doesn’t have a spouse or kids. People my age usually had left the church and start coming back (if they went as children) or coming (if they have never gone) when they get married and/or have kids. Am I bucking the system to prove a point? No, I love going to church. Here is why.
Last Sunday, to start off the service we were challenged by the words of joy provided by our Advent walk. That puts it too churchy. In other words, we are never asked to check our lives at the door. We are asked to come to God as we are, nothing more, nothing less. So in the Call to Worship, I needed to think about joy in my life even through the hard stuff and recognize the presence of God in the good stuff. When a church accepts the whole person, we are challenged to come to God in a realistic way, not perfectly, but just as we are.
Nothing is off limits during our prayer time. (Okay, maybe asking for a certain Chicago sports team to win is a little taboo.) We share concerns that are both specific and general. This particular Sunday requests raised by the community included joys about the Advent season, the Spirit’s leading, and a magazine’s decision to run a front page story that would challenge as well as concerns for a brother who had been hurt on the job, a Nobel Peace prize nominee on death row, and for the Christian Peacemaker Team’s workers in Iraq.
No big deal, right? Wrong. I am often struck by the honesty, pain, and struggle that comes out during our prayer time. When a church accepts the whole person, we pray more deeply for each other and share each other’s joy more graciously.
I continue to worship through my meeting after church. My church is planning a special Martin Luther King Jr. weekend celebration of which I am a part of the planning. I find myself energized by this work. A friend once told me that Martin Luther King Jr. Day is more important to me than Christmas, and that is not far off. In this church, I feel my passions supported. When a church accepts the whole person, we are able to call out passions and talents that may not traditionally be used in churches.
So, what’s the point?
Well, too many times we as the larger Church forget that church isn’t the place for perfect people. In fact, people who have it all together need not apply. Church, instead, is a place to figure it out together, a place where I don’t have to separate my political beliefs or my passions from my prayer requests. I don’t have to hide my faults, shortcomings or my overwhelming praise either. Church should be a place that no matter how dressed up I get, I don’t have to dress up or dress down my feelings and thoughts. Church is a place that my entire being, on my best days and my worst days, I can be loved.
I love going to my church because I can be a complete person. I don’t have to pretend that I don’t really care if the White Sox win or that I really don’t want to see the latest romantic comedy. I can be a complete person. I can talk about theology, the Bible, and faith with conviction and not always agree with those whom I am talking.. I can be a complete person enjoying hearing people’s love stories for each other and for God and at the same time be honest about my lack of love stories about others or at the time God.
Since the church is to be a reflection of who God is, I can only surmise from my church experience that God loves the whole me. Thanks be to God.
In the church statistic world, I don’t fit. I am one of those almost 30 something’s that doesn’t have a spouse or kids. People my age usually had left the church and start coming back (if they went as children) or coming (if they have never gone) when they get married and/or have kids. Am I bucking the system to prove a point? No, I love going to church. Here is why.Last Sunday, to start off the service we were challenged by the words of joy provided by our Advent walk. That puts it too churchy. In other words, we are never asked to check our lives at the door. We are asked to come to God as we are, nothing more, nothing less. So in the Call to Worship, I needed to think about joy in my life even through the hard stuff and recognize the presence of God in the good stuff. When a church accepts the whole person, we are challenged to come to God in a realistic way, not perfectly, but just as we are.
Nothing is off limits during our prayer time. (Okay, maybe asking for a certain Chicago sports team to win is a little taboo.) We share concerns that are both specific and general. This particular Sunday requests raised by the community included joys about the Advent season, the Spirit’s leading, and a magazine’s decision to run a front page story that would challenge as well as concerns for a brother who had been hurt on the job, a Nobel Peace prize nominee on death row, and for the Christian Peacemaker Team’s workers in Iraq.
No big deal, right? Wrong. I am often struck by the honesty, pain, and struggle that comes out during our prayer time. When a church accepts the whole person, we pray more deeply for each other and share each other’s joy more graciously.
I continue to worship through my meeting after church. My church is planning a special Martin Luther King Jr. weekend celebration of which I am a part of the planning. I find myself energized by this work. A friend once told me that Martin Luther King Jr. Day is more important to me than Christmas, and that is not far off. In this church, I feel my passions supported. When a church accepts the whole person, we are able to call out passions and talents that may not traditionally be used in churches.
So, what’s the point?
Well, too many times we as the larger Church forget that church isn’t the place for perfect people. In fact, people who have it all together need not apply. Church, instead, is a place to figure it out together, a place where I don’t have to separate my political beliefs or my passions from my prayer requests. I don’t have to hide my faults, shortcomings or my overwhelming praise either. Church should be a place that no matter how dressed up I get, I don’t have to dress up or dress down my feelings and thoughts. Church is a place that my entire being, on my best days and my worst days, I can be loved.
I love going to my church because I can be a complete person. I don’t have to pretend that I don’t really care if the White Sox win or that I really don’t want to see the latest romantic comedy. I can be a complete person. I can talk about theology, the Bible, and faith with conviction and not always agree with those whom I am talking.. I can be a complete person enjoying hearing people’s love stories for each other and for God and at the same time be honest about my lack of love stories about others or at the time God.
Since the church is to be a reflection of who God is, I can only surmise from my church experience that God loves the whole me. Thanks be to God.
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