a friend just wrote a great post on offerings in the church setting. i would link you to her, but she likes to be anonymous. basically, she was really happy that her kids didn't really know what "passing the plate" meant. they go to a vineyard church and vineyards are typically pretty discreet about the giving part of the service. i made a comment that i was glad my kids don't really know what church is. i lied. they do really know what church is and they know it in a much deeper way than i ever could have. in fact, i didn't really figure out what church is until i left college. to my kids the church is the people around them. the ones who step up when we need help. the folks we hang out with. do we pray with these people? rarely out loud. do we sing worship songs with them? never. do we enjoy our lives with them? definitely. can we count on them in a tragedy? definitely. do they love our children and are walking with us in raising them? definitely. so when i say my kids don't know what church is, i really mean they do not quite understand a church meeting. to them life is church. god is everywhere. the spiritual abounds in the sounds at night and a gentle rain. for awhile i felt guilty that my family does not attend a church meeting on a sunday. i've given that up. i think it was when my 14 year old handed a $10 bill of his own money to a homeless guy.
i do have to say that i think church meetings are a good thing. i think it's a place where you can find community among believers. i especially love this place. lots of great things can be learned in a corporate worship setting. i guess i just finally feel free. free of the "have to go" mentality. my entire life i had to go to church and i had to dress up and i couldn't EVER wear shorts and i couldn't be late and i could NEVER skip out. god was there and he might miss me. and what would people think? i was the pastor's daughter, ya know. i never missed a potluck, a sunday night, a wednesday night, a choir practice, a sunday school, a anything. i couldn't WAIT till i was old enough to work in the nursery. i was a social being, so i suppose i didn't mind as much as i seem to as an adult! plus, it was just what i was used to and didn't experience anything different until i went off to college and could CHOOSE! thus began my slow awakening to the possibility that one did not HAVE to attend a church meeting. but the GUILT! would i lose my chance to go to heaven? would my parents despise me? what would everyone think! gasp! over the course of the next 20 years, my way of thinking was re-trained. in reading books by brennan manning and hanging out with fellow revolutionaries my brain was un-brainwashed in believing that my salvation depended upon my attendance record at the local meeting house. so, my children are being raised in a completely different manner than i was. it's kind of interesting. my husband and i are the sunday school teachers. my husband and i and our various friends are the pastors. our children know god because they see him in our friends and our world around us. it's a lovely, lovely freedom.
9 comments:
i love this post. can i copy it?
hurray for freedom. I am in detox mode (thanks for the term, melanie) and don't go to church very often, if at all.
I also had to laugh when you said you couldn't wait to grow up and work in the nursery. You finally get your dream- at learning tree! (I know that's not really what you meant, but it's funnier in my head this way).
Good, now I won't have to go back three pages on Julie's blog to find Rachel's link. Now it's OUT THERE for all to see..and for me to link to. Much, much easier.
melanie....you can copy it although it kinda makes me laugh that you want to!
mrs. blue sky...i think you can somehow hide your name. i've seen it on other peoples comments. their names are gray not blue. and you can't link to them.
good thoughts, julie. thanks
"my brain was un-brainwashed in believing that my salvation depended upon my attendance record at the local meeting house. " Isn't it weird how we all believed this? Why IS that? We do attend Sunday services and are members of a local church, but we try hard to stress that this is merely a congregation as part of Christ's church, not THE church. It can all be so puzzling.
Oh, and Scott Baio? Oh yes--but he was taken by Joanie, of course.
My friend and I stopped by Brewtopia last night and had a couple of amazing lattes.
That Clockwork Orange fellow knows how to pull some good shots.
It is funny how we all learned somehow that going to church equaled being a good Christian. My Bible doesn't seem to say anything about it being a requirement. Fellowship is important but one can go to church 7 days a week and never know Who God is let alone have a relationship with Him!
I even find myself sometimes wanting to use a different word for church...because I know when I say "church" it brings up images in most people's minds that aren't at all what we experience at Vineyard Westside.
yes, i think vineyards have definitely moved beyond the old church mentality! what i love about vineyard in norwood is that they have somehow learned to combine modern worship with old liturgical practices.
it was through vineyard all those years ago that i first began to realize that "church" could be different!
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