I skipped Church this Sunday as I was busy helping a relative sort out some practical problems that needed me to be out of town. I had told the vicar in advance I would not be there, apologised and assured him that he would see me as usual the following Sunday(ours is a small congregation and absence would be noticed). Well, I got on with the help I had promised my relative, had lunch and some nice conversations but the expected pang of guilt for missing the service didn’t kick-in. I even tuned into Songs of Praise to compensate, read extra passages from the Bible and again awaited the guilt pang to kick-in but it didn’t. It suddenly struck me that I was experiencing something of what the majority of the country was doing on a Sunday- anything but church. Did I feel less connected with God? No. Did I feel less empowered to serve Jesus or share something of the gospel with my relative? No. I started to think about what I missed by not being in church and my mind turned to: being cold, singing out of tune, wondering are all those rituals strictly necessary and if Jesus was here what is he thinking of all this?
We’re all ways told to give up those habits that are bad for us so maybe now and again there’s a case for cutting out church on the odd Sunday and taking time out to reflect and see things from the perspective of a majority of the population. It may even help us do church better!
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