Thy sinless mind in us reveal,
Thy spirit's plenitude impart!
Till all my spotless life shall tell
The abundance of a loving heart.
C. WESLEY.
Almost every Church out there proclaims to be a Church family or community. Isn't that the goal of every Church? Ever since I have become a Christian, I have been looking for that Church family of believers. Even though my son is a Pastor, I've struggled in finding a Church where I can fit in.
How can I plug into this Church family of believers? I can see how people who live near the Church and have day jobs (9 to 5) are able to join the weekly Bible Study or Church events. Everything seems to happen during the week, not leaving much room for us who don't work normal hours.
I have been on the lookout for that family atmosphere that every Christian Church claims it has. Maybe it's my lack of interaction with others. Or maybe working second shift doesn't allow much room for that interaction. Or a Church can be guilty of cliques and if you're not in that favored group, you're out of luck.
In the past, I've been a believer of sticking to one particular Church regardless of any issues I might have with it. I'm not a believer of Church hopping. It is all about Christ anyway, isn't it? With that firmly in mind, I stuck it out in my last Church for almost six years dutifully volunteering as a Sunday school teacher and even filling in as Director when needed. If there was a Church event, we were there.
No Church is perfect, but I soon found myself spending more time volunteering rather than feeding my soul. I mean, I wasn't only there for my volunteering shift, but for all of them. Every Sunday, we would get up early with the birds and head out to Church not coming home until maybe 1:00 p.m. in the afternoon. All volunteering. You see, volunteers tend to cancel at the last minute or not show up at all. Someone has to fill in.
This is not a post about bad mouthing Churches or it's volunteers, so please don't get me wrong. This is about my experience or how I saw it from my point of view. This is about me. This is my story.
So I found myself starving for the Word of God. I decided to take a break from volunteering and sit in a pew like everyone else. I also found that I could not do that without someone asking me to fill in for an absent volunteer in Sunday school or could I please go and welcome that newcomer. The problem was I didn't want to do that. I wanted to be fed and I soon realized it wasn't going to happen in a Church where I was so well known.
I basically became a Church nomad for almost two years, opting for a different Church every Sunday. Or at least, I've tried diversity deciding not to go to the same Church two Sundays in a row. I loved it, because no one knew me therefore, no one could ask anything of me. I could be fed.
That worked for me, but then a day came when my Pastor son said these words to me: Mom, you know you are to connect with another body of believers. You need to belong to a Church. You have no idea how much his words bothered me. They stayed with me and stayed with me, burning a hole within my soul. He was right. I needed to be part of a family of believers. I chose my current Church to be that family. I come. I connect. I volunteer once a month for refreshment duty. I participate in Church events when I'm available, but most of all, I'm being fed.
To be continued.
Have a blessed day everyone.
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