"Is the Building the Church?"

A few months ago I was having a conversation with a friend. He was putting forth the argument that you don't have to attend a church service in a building in order to communicate with God. He said you can feel just as close or closer to Him away from the structured service. I responded by saying this was a cop out and that you need the community of believers in order to maintain and grow in your spiritual life.

That was then and this is now. I am now on the "outs" with my church for reasons I won't go into here and I don't think I can go back for a while. That leaves me on the outside looking in as there is no other church in my area that I want to attend. I like a traditional church service so that leaves me out where the new contemporary churches are. I also don't believe in predestination (bye-bye Presbyterians) or like to hear burn in hell orators (bye-bye Baptists).

My problem is not that I can't communicate with God outside of church, my problem is I like church. I like the rituals and the music. I like sitting in the pews with my family and friends. I like a really good sermon that my pastor was known to deliver. I like it all.

Plus I get chock full of guilt when I don't go to church. Blame it on my mother but she always stressed Sunday morning was for church. So I can just see me laying around on a Sunday morning feeling guilty as sin about not being up and dressed and in church. 

Not only do I like church, I like Sunday School. That is when I got to see my church going friends that I hadn't see during the week. I liked catching up and then sitting with them as we heard a lesson about life and living. 

I am not withdrawing my membership from my church. I am not about to do anything as radical as that. I just plan to lay low for now and maybe for a couple of years. When things change maybe I will return. At least I plan to. I can't imagine spending the rest of my life without it.

For now I am going back to talk with that friend who told me you don't need the organized church. Maybe he has more information I can use. And maybe he can tell me how and why he doesn't feel guilty every Sunday morning. I am sure he has some kind of method to avoid it. I sure hope he does.
 

 

 

 

 

©2008 Jackie K. Cooper

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