I grew up Catholic, went to 12 years of Catholic school and absolutely cannot stand sitting through any kind of church service. Even if I listen and participate. Even if I like the sermon. The group prayers are like everyone just saying “BLAHBLAHBLAH BLAH”. I get that feeling inside that I will die or run screaming from the room if I sit there one more minute.
We tried to be Lutheran for the children and that was better but not enough. If I go to church I do not believe in God. The Bible readings and most of the sermons that try to make the readings fit somehow into modern life make me want to roll my eyes. If I don’t go and instead become aware of everything around me and all the mysterious happenings that point to there being a god I do believe.
I probably just need to try less traditional denominations
We are in the process of deciding whether to change churches, so maybe a slightly different perspective? The church I currently am a member of, I’ve gone to since I was 4. Although the church has grown and changed in many positive ways, there is just something missing for me right now. I’m bored in the service, the music isn’t making me feel anything, many of the things that I used to love for their familiarity are seeming trite now. However, I really love my Sunday School Bible Study class, my teacher there, and all of my friends. My 3 year old daughter has a really great program and lots of friends her age.
My 17 year old (this is my niece who has lived here for over a year and was not raised in church, although she says she is a Christian), absolutely hates it (has no friends despite a huge youth group, many from her school; it’s boring; the classes don’t teach her anything, blah blah teenager!) Because DH and I are getting bored in service, and we don’t want her to stop going, we decided to try another church down the road. We LOVE it there! The music is great, the preaching is great, the people seem great so far. A lot of the people that have left my church for various reasons go there now, so we already have some built in acquaintances and a few friends. It was my grandparent’s church (before they became shut in) even! It has some problems too though. It has no Sunday School, which is something I love. We also haven’t figured out how the youth group works, or the multiple Bible studies all throughout the week (as opposed to Sunday school or a mid-week service).
So do I enjoy going to church? I want to! I used to! I think I will again too, it’s just making the decision of whether to change and what to do and all of that. Right now we are going most Sunday mornings to the new church, although we occasionally go to our Sunday School class and then down there for church. On Wednesday nights we go to our old church (AWANA night). Who knows what will happen as time goes on. (And the niece seems to like the new church ok so far.)
Do not worry about being a hypocrite, do not let that stop you for going. Go because of the reasons you gave it will be OK no one should mind. Besides the largest group of hypocrites is in the church. I know this will offend some but think about it. If I love the Lord and think it is wrong to do things that I believe are a sin, but I do them, what am I? If some ones doen not bellieve the same acts are a sin and he does them he is not a hypocrite.
Now to the OP’s question. Yes I like going to church. I like the worship. While worshiping I become closer to God, I realise how he has been with me through out the last week, God can speak to me about my walk. I like the teaching I listen to the preacher. In fact I tell others if the teaching does not change your life then either you are not paying attention or you should find a new church. I like the fellowship before and after.
And I like serving. Infact I serve in ministry that I enjoy every year that is different. Every wear I take a week and a half of vacation and serve on the electrical crew of Spirit West Coast at Monterey Calif. It is a three day music festable.
So yes I like church, the worship, lessons, & service or I would not go!
Just believing that some things are wrong and then doing them is not hypocrisy; it’s human nature–you know, that whole ‘fallen’ thing. People screw up, and they do it all the time. Thus church is often referred to as “not a place for perfect people, but a hospital for the sick.” In theory, people who go to church know and admit that they commit sins all the time; that’s why they go to church and worship, to repent and so on. They do not want to lose their tempers and yell at their children, but they do because they’re human.
Hypocrisy is “a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not; especially : the false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion.” If I constantly told people never, ever to lose their tempers, and claimed that I never did so myself, but in fact was in the habit of screaming at my children and looking for opportunities to punish them, and if I enjoyed being angry and was not sorry for it, then I would certainly be a hypocrite, for I would be pretending to be something I was not. However, the fact that I do actually sometimes lose my temper with my kids, even though I don’t want to and know that I shouldn’t, does not in itself make me a hypocrite; it makes me a human being. As long as I admit my errors, pick myself back up out of the mud, and try to be better, I cannot be called a hypocrite.
Not to say that there is no hypocrisy in churches, or in the world in general, since that’s a common human failing–but plain old having ideals and trying to live up to them even though constant perfection is impossible is not hypocrisy. On the contrary, it’s exactly one of the things that being a follower of Christ is about.
Yes, I do. As a child I did not, but didn’t have a choice in the matter. We went to Catholic mass every week whether we (the children) wanted to or not. When I went away to college I exercised my newfound independence by not going. When I was in my mid-20’s, I found myself feeling like something was missing in my life. One day I figured, maybe I’ll go to church this weekend, just to see how it feels.
It felt good. I realized I had been missing the community, the Communion, the peace, the opportunity for prayer, and the spiritual cleansing. It’s been almost 20 years since I’ve been back and I enjoy going on a weekly basis. If, because of various scheduling and family obligations I’m not able to get to mass for 2 or 3 weeks in a row, I get sort of antsy- I have to get back and when I do, I just feel better.
I’m a cradle Episcopalian and was taken to church by my parents virtually every week when I was growing up. Sang in the choir for awhile, too, when I was older. In time I married an Episcopalian and, almost 20 years ago, we found a great church that we’ve been going to ever since (other than a three-year interruption while we were out of town). We now take our boys just about every week. We have many friends there, and enjoy the spiritual and communal experience, the beautiful music, the artwork and the stained glass, the sermons (our rector is a great preacher), the Sunday School and youth-group options for our boys, etc. There are some Sunday mornings when I’d rather sleep in, true, but I’ve never regretted going, and I always get something out of it.
I quit going years ago, but for a couple years I went to a Presbyterian church. I can say that I truly enjoyed that. A lot of it was the music. Our pastor would get on the organ and I would play the concert grand piano and it was just amazing.
Yes I do enjoy going to church. Like Elendil’s Heir, I’m Episcopalian, although unlike EH I wasn’t born to it, but to another church.
I’ve attended adult classes, served as a chalist at the Eucharist, and been a Sunday School teacher. I like it that the Episcopalians are “equal opportunity”, with men and women equal. I grew up in a very conservative denomination, that, while liturgical, does not ordain women and does not even count them as voting members of their congregation.
Generally speaking, it is valuable for me to go and “enjoying” it is a bonus. Just the fact that I get to go be party to a miracle each time is amazing and I try not to take that for granted.
I would echo the above, that it partly depends on my own attitude and how open I am to the Word and homily. Sometimes the readings will match what is going on in my life or give me inspiration, sometimes not. That’s partly my own level of engagement and reflection.
Our church is the best for music but even that can be a mixed bag, as sometimes stuff from 60s through the present day are picked and they stink.
It’s funny to hear about all of you who hated Mass as kids. I see the kids around me at Mass and they are old enough to pay attention, but instead they put their head done or tune out. And their parents allow it, like it’s good enough that they have attended at all. I sound like an old fogey, but my parents traded off going to ealrier and later Masses so one could stay home with us when we were too small to handle it, and later we were expected to at least sit quietly and attentively, with respect.
I think of weekly mass attendance like an allignment for my soul. I’m a cradle Catholic, gone rather “cafeteria,” but I still attend each Sunday.
Over the course of a week it’s easy to get so caught up in the daily to-do lists of everyday life that I forget what (to me) the big picture is. Going to church forces me to be quiet and reflect, to mentally work out the areas I’m having difficulty with. It’s centering.
Could I do that at home? Sure. Just like many people can exercise at home, but some benefit from regular gym attendance. I like to tend to my spiritual health as well as my physical.
As a child, church attendance was merely an obligation. I didn’t really appreciate having a spiritual anchor in my life until college. The appreciation waxes and wanes, but it’s still there.
As a kid I was forced to attend Mass every Sunday along with all the Holy Days too. It was torture. Out of respect for my parents I got married in the church, but haven’t gone to Mass since. Can’t say I’ve missed it at all, and I won’t be forcing my kids to attend.
First time poster here, but thought I’d chime in. My wife and I love our church (and love going) b/c its focus is summed up with 2 principles: 1) Love God, 2) Love people. Our church certainly has fundamental Christian beliefs, but in general, we make it a habit of not allowing the clutter and distraction of “life’s issues” get in the way of these 2 commandments. It’s amazingly simple and profoundly deep at the same time.
I’m an atheist, and I still go to church regularly. Generally I enjoy it, for three different reasons:
Two weeks out of the month, Kim the Rhymer & I attend my “home” church, which I joined during my 10-year refrigerium from nonbelief. I really like the people; I’d hang out with them socially, and often do. Also the pastor is a gifted orator. Her sermons are worth hearing and watching merely for her performing ability, and even though I disagree with her on most every major theological issue, she’s very thought provoking. (She once gave a sermon entitled “When God is wrong,” about an incident in the Old Testatment in which God was, frankly, full of shit, and she said as much; her point being that no one should blindly follow authority, and that it is a sinful abdication of one’s moral responsibility to do so.) The music is good, and the church does genuinely good work for the community; I’d support an atheist organization doing the same sorts of things, so I’m happy to support them.
The other two weeks of the month we attend Kim’s church. She wants to go with me, and I like making her happy. Also she frequently sings solos in the choir, and her voice is beautiful; and when she raises her hands in praise, and moves, I am awestruck, because she is so improbably hot.
About once a month I go directly from church to a local atheists’ group, and the irony amuses me.
ETA:
In a typical week my father goes to church at least 6 times–always on Sunday morning, for a service that lasts about 5 hours, and on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights as well. I HATE his various churches, and in the unlikely event there is a hell, my punishment will surely be that schedule.
I really enjoy going to church, and when work prevents me from going, I feel a bit off the whole week.
The church my wife and I attend is the church I was born into. It used to be a traditional, reserved service, but they switched to contemporary several years ago. When I first started going back (after several years away from *any *church), I wasn’t sure I liked the contemporary style, but my wife loved it, so we kept going, and I grew to love it too. Something really connects with people (myself included) there now in a way that didn’t happen before.
I like more now than ever. I decided some time ago to make church more than something I did once a week. Don’t get me wrong; I still only go to mass once a week, but I’m INVOLVED with the various church ministries. I don’t just attend church; it’s a community. I try to get involved in things that will allow me to meet and work alongside fellow men or families with similar interests. By making it part of my social life and family life it’s enriched me beyond words.
I was brought up Catholic. As a kid I thought Mass was boring and resented the fact I had to be there, but as an adult I do go to Mass voluntarily, if infrequently - despite the fact I’m not practicing anymore. I like the familiarity of the rituals and the general atmosphere of serenity, and I like listening to/singing the hymns (provided the choir is any good).