...I'm going for the need to be "plugged in" to a community but I feel like going to church to find community is like going to single's bar to pick up a chick. Am I going to actually find a chick? maybe... but am I really even going to be able to connect with a chick that I'd find at a place like this? You get the idea. Every month or so Jenn and I get this idea that we need to start going to church to meet some people. We get the kids all ready, we head out only to find a spot way too far away from the church. We walk (slowly as we've got a 3 year old), we get a spot to sit down and worry if the kids are going to be OK in childrens church... but I always know in the back of my mind that Michael's number or name is going to flash up on the come get your screamin kid screen. The worship is... well worship. The message is usually painfully boring, but sometimes, oh sometimes, on rare occasion, it's... average. It's over, I smile and shake hands with person beside me or whoever's in hand shaking distance. We load the kids back up, come home and I realize again why I had stopped going to church in the first place. Even Jesus in a parable wanted a return on His investment. I've just spent my whole evening (or morning for you moderns) working hard to be involved in something that doesn't even excite me or challenge me or encourage me or anything. I think a lot of it has to do with my philosophy of OPTIONS. Too many options equal very little substance. Education, affluence, money, power, sex, everything has us keeping our options open and striving to open our options. America is the LAND of opportunities (options), you can have the American dream and your options are endless. When it comes to community, commitment equals limiting ones options. It's the fear that keeps men single and friendships shallow. The poor have an amazing thing to give to us in this. Their survival depends on a close knit community, and although their lifestyles are destructive, their lack of options are a great cure to individualism...
