Returning to Church.

Some say that going to church can help and motivate each other. Hebrews 10:24-25 says, "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together".

Non-church-goers — hi.

I know you're there.

I know there are a lot of you.  Or at least, there are a lot more of you than you've been made to believe.  You haven't been back to church since, oh, March 2020.  Maybe you have watched every online service or not a single one, or somewhere in between. No matter what, I want you to know I see you.  

I want you to know that I get how hard this stage of your faith life is.  How deciding to come back to church inside of the building on a Saturday at a specific time and in person, or not, feels a lot more complicated than you ever anticipated it would be almost four years ago.

I know how some of our pandemic life felt like a reset — a breath even — and in that time you were able to look at the parts of your life and reevaluate anything that felt like a "had to."  I get that when you really thought about it, church was one of those things.  Maybe you weren't sure why you were going, or if it was something you even wanted to do in the first place, but week after week you found yourself getting to church on Saturday morning.

And then you discovered that not going felt better than going on most Saturdays.  You discovered a love of easy Saturdays without getting ready or leaving your house.  You learned that a slow and steady walk in that wild area near your house felt more like church than trying to wrangle a kid or your own attention through a sermon.  

You found that what you gained somehow had more meaning than anything you lost.  So you haven't come back.  And there might not even be a "yet" on the end of that sentence.