Why Church?

If you had told me twenty-five years ago that I would be a minister, I would have dismissed the notion out of hand.  I had not attended church regularly for some fifteen years before I decided to go to Seminary, and the thought of going back to church at that time, frankly, seemed a downside of becoming a minister.   Now, eighteen years into parish ministry, I remain intrigued by the special attraction that a faith community has for so many people.  I, for one, am glad it is a part of my family’s life.

At first I justified the worth of church as a tool for social change, a way to manifest the better world we are all capable of.  That is an aspect of what we do together, but it is not what makes faith communities vital to the health of the world.  What can make a faith community vital to the health of the world is the opportunity it gives each individual to connect with their own inner knowing, with each other’s journeying lives and with the flow of ideas and creativity that foster wisdom, love of life and gratitude.  Church community is not about what we have done, it is about what we have made possible, what we inspire, what we embrace.  And we do this by showing up, by living our lives together, by risking our love.  That’s the energy the world needs.  Once that connection is made, the healthy world we so yearn for, the good works we expect to manifest, will naturally come into being. 

So may it be.