I was too new to get a hint about church except thatit was a position to go on occasion where you could break your best lightblue pastel suit and sit for a pair of hours on a heavy bench and getoverheated very quickly because of the want of ventilation. I feltrelief when I finally left the church and got outside, where the coolbreezes would call attention to my perspiration under a steamy,polyester-like suit.
I did pay attention enough through the heat,however, to see that church was not such a scary place after all. I hadalready experienced the screaming, sanctified woman at the colorful,inner city church where the women attired as nurses would carry thewounded yellers out of the sanctuary. I had to take over a few visitsthat the screamers was not a regular voice of church (thank goodness).
Nowthat I am old and a little smarter about the church experience, Irealize that, many days ago, I was partly of a great grouping of people thatgo to church once a year, and that group still exists today.theEaster Sunday once-a-year church goers. As I checked through myFacebook faith posts and Twitter faith tweets, I noted that there weremany efforts to get people to go to church services on Easter in largevenues-even stadiums-in different parts of the country, or there weremultiple services at large churches to suit the crowds.
Theremust be a sensation of duty behind the magnitude of people compelled toattend Easter services. It is a move that occurs on the one daythat Jesus Christ is given respect by the secular or unchurchedpeople.and that's just alright with me. It is my hope, however, that thepeople who do visit church will really get to the understanding thatvisiting church once a class does not earn brownie points or good favorwith God because of the effort. While God sincerely appreciates thevisitation, I have found that many once-a-year visitors often slip intochurch and sit in the second row at the beginning of the service but to duckout the threshold before it ends.these premeditated escape artists putHoudini on notice.
Not to be too critical, I mustpoint out that the once-a-year tryout people make a latent curiosity, ifnot an outright need for understanding, of how the former half lives-inother words, how can these church folk stand to go into churchdom (AKAboredom) every Sunday? What is the magnet that one can have tomaintain such a steady routine as going to church every week.wait,sometimes even twice a week.or even (heaven forbid) go to Sundayschool???
There is no one answer for this phenomenon of regularchurch attendance, but the reasons all circle back to one simplething.there is a substantial likelihood that many of the people who attendchurch once or twice a week (and even Sunday school) get a greaterunderstanding about what it is to have a sound relationship with God.The regulars are far from perfect-and share the same flaws that theonce-a-yearers have-but they notice these shortcomings byrecognizing that God provides forgiveness and healing.missingcommodities in today's world of artificial fixes.
And now I'llspeak for me, one of the regulars, who did not get to a greaterunderstanding of who Jesus Christ is until I was 26 years old, and when Iaccepted Him as my personal Savior. It took a small interest, andthen curiosity, and so an open mind to serve me to see that Ineeded Him in my life. That's what it finally takes for apiece of uswho wish to learn something new. Sometimes we take to realise that itis the real things that we don't realize that we are most afraid of.It is all about overcoming our fears, which we oft get to do to growpersonally, and even spiritually. We too get to be measured to notlisten to somebody else's opinions about something that we don'tunderstand, which can prevent us from seeking what ultimately is thetruth. That is what is very tragic about not trying something.whenyou make excuses not to seek understanding when you bear everything inyour power to get it happen.
It is my prayer that if you are aonce-a-year Easter Sunday tryout person that you see going back tochurch in a week or two, but don't expect an entire year. There are manywonderful bible-teaching churches with people only wish you that aremore than willing to receive you for the second, third, or fourth visit(but you hold to continue long enough after the service ends, of course).You only may happen that the friendliness and society that youexperience will be far from dull and will really be refreshinglysincere, which only happens to be but the way Jesus Christ would haveyou to see Him. Church is not actually a scary place, but you'll have totry it out more than formerly to see for yourself.
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