In this “godless age”, why do people bother to go to church? In the age of the spiritual-but-not-religious, the find-your-own-bliss post-post-modern society, why does anyone spend time doing ancient practices for an ancient God?
There used to be easy answers to this question. When I was young, people went to church to be seen as a “good person” and to raise their children to be “moral citizens”. Some researchers challenge the idea that religion actually produces “moral people”. In a recent Los Angeles Times article, author Phil Zuckerman argues that “Many nonreligious parents were more coherent and passionate about their ethical principles than some of the ‘religious' parents in our study,” Bengston told me. ‘The vast majority appeared to live goal-filled lives characterized by moral direction and sense of life having a purpose’.” (Zuckerman)
So why do I need church if I my kids will turn out just fine if I teach them to play nice with others Why do I get out of bed on Sunday mornings instead of sitting around in my pjs drinking coffee? Well, I don’t go to church to become a moral person, or to help me raise my children with good values. Any morality instilled in my family is a result, not the goal.
I don’t go to church to teach my children to follow the golden rule. It isn’t values and the morality that call me into the Eucharist. It is longing--desperate longing for a connection to the love in which we live and move and have our being. The kind of longing that is only filled in company of others, others who also long for God. I want to lay down my burdens, my failures, my inequities, acknowledge them, and be forgiven. I want to feel the yoke of pride and selfishness lifted from my shoulders and replaced with the love of Jesus Christ. I want to partake in the mystery of the body and blood, freely given in love and grace.
I don’t go to church to be surrounded by other “good people”. I go to church to be surrounded by other fallen people, struggling up together. I go to church to be an active participant in the work of the kingdom of God, building a community of love. My fellow Christians are far from perfect, and that is why I love them. They support me when I struggle, comfort me when I grieve, frustrate me when I am impatient, challenge me when I am lazy, and love me when I am flawed. In our best moments, we are no better than anyone else. In our best moments, we are all beloved children of God, loved in spite of all our failings. We act out the love of God when we love each other.
I don’t go to church to be “a good person”. I don’t go to church to build up my spiritual skills or to flex my morality muscles. I go to church, because, well, because GOD. I go to church because the world is filled with pain and suffering. Bad things happen to good people. Bad people seem to thrive. Humanity is capable of a great deal of evil, self-inflicted and other. I go to church because I am a flawed product of a flawed world and I make mistakes--all the damn time. I go to church because in the midst of this pain and suffering and inequity and evil, God loves me. Somehow, I know God loves me. And I go to church to remember that, to honor that, and to show up for God.
Zuckerman, P., 3 March, 2017. How secular family values stack up. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-oe-0115-zuckerman-secular-parenting-20150115-story.html
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