Counter-Culture

Last week, I got to have tea with a friend who used to come to St. Mark’s, but she and her family moved down the highway a bit, and it had actually been a couple of years since we’d been able to sit and talk.  They attend the Episcopal church in the town they live in now, and we started talking about how there aren’t as many young families coming to church as regularly as there used to be. 

 

“It’s weird, but it’s just become something we plan around now…we don’t do sleepovers on Saturday nights, and we’re just…there, every Sunday, unless we’re out of town.  The kids expect it, and like it, and it’s just become what we do now.  But it feels almost counter-cultural!  People just don’t seem to go to church anymore, not even at Christmas and Easter!”  Their church is also, like St. Mark’s, going through a rebuilding, after losing a number of families over a stretch of years.  They, too, are exploring ways to expand their offerings for children and youth, to make church a place where families want to be.

This idea of church now being counter-cultural is really interesting; I suspect that many people have negative connotations about what church is, based on politics and media and the entertainment industry.  It certainly feels at times that extreme interpretations of certain religions dominate our thinking about them.  That makes it hard to invite people to church, because we’re not sure what they’ll think.  We know we are not judgmental, irrational, and after their money, but what if that’s the only message they’ve ever gotten about people who are in any way “religious”?  How many times have you heard people say “I’m not religious, but…”?   Church definitely seems to be out of fashion at the moment…but what was that Bible passage?  The geeks shall inherit the earth?  On my Facebook page, under Religious Views, I have a quote attributed to St. Francis:  “Preach the Gospel.  Use words if necessary.” 

 

Who cares what people think?  If church makes sense for you, if it helps you live a more meaningful, focused, fulfilled life, come.  If it slows things down, if the music soothes and inspires you, if church helps you remember we’re all in this together, come. And invite a friend.  Because we want to share with our friends what’s good in our lives…that makes it even better.

 

Bess