I go to church because I have a bad memory…Really? (Carol Martin)

Recently I came across a blog about why I go to church…The author like many of us had been in conversation with a young person who “got” why she was spiritual, but why go to Church he questioned.  He saw the many good works of churches and the fun activities as being provided elsewhere in the community.  Church was irrelevant, this “spiritual but not religious” person said.

So the author mused about that…after all he was in part right, she concluded. Then after searching for why she needed to go to church, here is what she decided:

“I have a really bad memory.

It's true. I have a terrible memory, especially when it comes to remembering who I am as a child of God. Especially when it comes to remembering what God has done, and continues to do, in and through Jesus Christ.

I forget who I am. I forget who God is. I forget God's Epic Story of Redemption and Liberation and Renewal and Beauty and Hope.”

And so, I thought…church services offer a reminder of all of this, a memory jog, as it were.

Still it didn’t sit well with me.  I actually spend more time in connection with God personally during the week than on Sunday.  I need to remember that not only am I a beloved child of God but so are the many others I encounter during the week; church goers or not.

I don’t forget the stories of our faith…I actually remember them better during the time I am in relationship with others as I think about the many ways we replay those stories, stories of betrayal, of sacrifice, of curiousity about God, of kindness and of evil.  I marvel at how they have stood the test of time (allowing for some historical updating).

No, I concluded.  I don’t go to church because I have a bad memory.  I am not sure of all the reasons I go; habit may be part of it, but it is to connect with others who share my faith in God, and with whom I can comfortably explore what that means for them and for me.  It is because I can watch how people live that out, I can ask questions, I can learn and I can sing.

But it is not because I have a bad memory.