I am skipping through the house tonight as I have written my letter of resignation for the Home Health Co. - Yippee - Looking forward to staying (mostly) on one schedule.
Some other thoughts....
I have struggled for some time with the fact that we don't go to church regularly. We will go for awhile and than not.
Not that I don't believe, I do... very much so. God is a pivotal aspect of my everyday life, both in prayer and deed. It is also an everyday aspect of my interactions with my children. Jesus is the basis for what I do. When I go to work, I do so with the belief that I am doing God's work of helping others in need, showing Jesus' love.
While contemplating this again (insert guilt here), I was struck with the thought that very rarely in the bible --- (OK I am not a scholar, however, 10 yrs of catholic school and various churches) --- rarely in the bible does it mention Jesus going to the synagogue. However, throughout all the pages of the Bible it repeatably teaches of how he helped the poor and sick, did onto others and showed undying love.
Joyce Meyer, a preacher, teaches that guilt is from satan to make us feel lousy.
So... my thoughts are that I should pitch the guilt, continue as I am and hopefully I will find a church that I am so compelled to attend its a burning need. I once mentioned that I volunteered instead of going to church and I figured God would like that more. My "friend" told me that God would like it if I did both, and that has made me feel less ever since.
Why did I post this? I really don't know. Except that I'm tired of feeling less because I have not found a church that fills whatever it is that we go to church for. Maybe, that by admitting such, it will cease to have power over me. I don't know....
Have an awesome week.... and thanks for listening to my ramblings and being a sounding board I guess. Karrie
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3 comments:
Oh, I definitely agree--the real meat of the matter is finding God in everyday situations, in the people around us, and in small acts of compassion. Anyone can spend 90 minutes on a pew once a week and then spend the rest of the week living as though God doesn't exist. I am just (slowly) reading the book _God in All Things_ by Gerard Hughes about this kind of constant prayfulness and I recommend it highly.
I know exactly what you mean. I don't feel that God would want us to go to church driven purely by guilt. You can't truely get what you need from Him if you aren't comfortable and happy with the congregation. Keep searching for the right place and keep living the way that you think He would want you to live. Listen, I've known a lot of regular church goers that, if you didn't see them in church on Sunday, you wouldn't think were. You know? Its about the way we live our lives...not our Sunday routine.
I've had a hard time with this very issue for several years myself! I think that a lot of christians struggle with this particular issue because we feel presured into going to church every single Sunday because "we should". You are not alone in feeling a sense of guilt, I feel it too. I think we need to stop feeling guilty, because it is about being with God second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, etc. Not just one day a week.
While it's important to hear the word of God, and fellowship with his people. I've yet to find a congregation that I'm not disillusioned with. In my last (current) church I had gotten a more intimate view of my Pastor's home life with his family and how he is outside of his pulpit. He is a very different man from the one he portrays on Sunday mornings, and this really bugs me.
So the just of what I'm getting at is church is a complicated situation with many aspects that we can't always see. There are political things going on behind the scenes forcing this or that to happen, and even dictating what is said in a sermon by certain elders of most congregations. I find that most congregations get caught up in the workings and so forth of the church that they almost seem to lose sight of what it is all about. So therefore, how can we be fed spiritually in an amosphere that at odds like this? Everyone seems to pull it together for Sunday mornings, but is that putting on a good face? Once a week acting good and putting in your alotted time with God out of some sense of guilt is not enough.
I'm sorry if I've crossed over a line here and offended anyone, but I feel even on this certain topic it is a matter of personal choice weather or not you choose to attend a weekly service or not.
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