What brings us (back) to church?
Like many, Norris Chumley fell away from church for a while before returning as an adult. Now he sees the things he saw as a child, but in a different light. Here are three of ten things on his list.
The Eucharist, or Holy Communion. The bread and wine as the body and blood of Jesus Christ, God in human form, is a physical uniting with God inside. After all the prayers, chants and setting aside the self, I feel a tangible connection, a bond made between Heaven and Earth, when partaking of the Eucharist.The Holy Trinity. All I can say is that the three-in-one, separate-yet-whole-at-the-same-time reality explains my continual human feeling of being separate from God, yet connected. I had learned in yoga that "All-Is-One," and that extends to Christianity in the Trinity.
God is human in Jesus Christ. This is also the Holy Trinity, incarnated, which means "in the flesh." The Holy Spirit, from God, becomes human in Christ. With the Eucharist or Communion, my humanness unites with God, too. Church gives me that. The experience is indescribably wonderful.
This is what it's (supposed to be) about.
As long as there's not hateful BS getting in the way (and TEC, on the whole, does pretty well in this regard), there's no reason many more people might come (back)!
JC Fisher
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July 25, 2010 10:51 PM
In my years as a chaplain, I have encountered many who had fallen away from the faith they had experienced as children. My observation has been that in crisis folks tend to find their way back to a faith position that, while not usually the one they grew up with, is one that is recognizable from what they grew up with.
This is not to say that they "return to the fold." Some do embrace again what they grew up with or something close. Others embrace something that is to them and others remarkably different, but the meaning is based on either reinterpreting or categorically rejecting what they grew up with. It is still recognizable, reasonable in that sense, based on what the persons grew up with.
Marshall Scott
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July 26, 2010 10:31 AM