We Don’t Go to Church…

There is no specific, single answer to the question, “Why haven’t we started going to church yet?” We don’t go to church. A whole lotta layers to this onion. And at the end of the day, well, they all kinda seem like excuses. Dear God, it’s me, the inquisitive thinker who wants to come to your house, but we seem to be playing phone tag on that open-invitation for coffee and worship.

Back up. Ten years ago, a Sunday consisted of BRUNCH, pub-visits, bike rides, maybe working through the late night cocktails and dance floor shenanigans from Saturday with the crew, and a nap, or a binge session of chick flicks. Twenty years ago, a Sunday looked like a part-time job in the morning and homework. My family outlook on church is mixed and non-linear through the course of my life. We officially belonged to a church growing up, and I was confirmed in an official months-long investment of commitment as a teen. My mom really wanted us to attend a place with a community element, a small-feel, and a positive message each week. Just like many American families, I started driving, my younger brothers had so many sports, and then we all grew up, and church just took this back seat…like a third-row back seat in a massive SUV.  It was nowhere to be found.   

I experienced so much. So much loss. So much joy. So much growth in trying to figure out life. And I’d occasionally pray and talk to God.  Sometimes I’d listen to religious-based testimonials on different forums and the radio when I’d have the time to myself in recent years. So why don’t I go to a physical church? Trust me…our faith has been tested in our household. The words in some of my prayers to the Big Guy last year: child, health, stress, cancer, jobs, journeys, mental health, etc. By October of last year, I knew that the big guy upstairs was keeping an eye on us. I had fully engrossed us in, “If God brings you to it, He’ll bring you through it,” (or SHE’LL bring you through it – but that’s a different convo for a different day).

So what in the hell do we do on Sundays that keep us from going to His house? Lists. Lists for health: work out, meal prep, get outside, go to the pharmacy. Lists for productivity: laundry, chores, file this online or fill that out for the coming week, cut the grass. Lists for relaxation and self-care: a bubble bath, a pedicure, a long walk with the fam. Within these lists are the finite pieces of life I only have God to thank. So now it’s a matter of a new list. Going to church has never been easier. We can wear practically anything these days to many different services. It’s entertaining – the music and sermons are probably more engaging than they have ever been in the entire A.D. period of history (FOR REAL – you think they had movie clips during sermons in the Middle Ages???). We really don’t have any excuses. We believe. So let’s goooo!

It’s time. It’s time to make a new list. Go. To. Church.

It’s time to: find the time.

It’s time to: get dressed in anything that works – GOD DOESN’T CARE!

It’s time to: create the space in my life for the positive.

It’s time to: engross my child in a new and grace-filled safe space.

It’s time.

Maybe this October, I’ll be visiting God’s house in a routine, and not just in a long distance relationship with him in prayer. “Why Haven’t We Started Going to Church yet?”…yet is the best word in the English language sometimes! And no, we don’t go to church…YET!