church

During my sabbatical, I have been visiting different churches.  It has been a lot of fun to see how others do things and I've picked up a number of good ideas.  I rarely get to do this on vacation generally because we are almost always in some remote location far away from any church.  My family does not respond well to: "Hey, let's go to a church that's about an hour from here that looks like it could hold about 50 people."  So we've enjoyed the sanctuary of nature on those occasions.

When all is said and done, the biggest draw of a church is the community.  After all, you can always listen to good music at home (although, in my mind, there is no substitute for live music), say prayers at home and do a great deal of spiritual reading.  You can also do community service without ever crossing into the doorway of a church.   But the kind of community you find in a strong church cannot be replicated anywhere.  A community that actually cares about how you are, a community that will help you when you are in need.

I heard a fine sermon today that, among other things, addressed the difference between being nice and being compassionate.  Lots of people know how to be nice or polite without much disclosure of who they really are or any serious attempt to connect with the other person.  Compassion is another story, an ability to read a person and know that all is not well or that they are, in fact, having a great day. There is a profound difference.