The last thing I want this to sound like is another "go to church" sermon. Trust me, I had my fair share of those growing up, and I don't want to bore you with another one. Rather, this is meant to be more of a personal reflection as to how the moment I stopped treating church like a chore, I began to actually find enjoyment in it.
When I was younger, I loathed going to church. I loathed it so much to the point that I even made my own church in the basement, my devious ploy to not have to go to the "real church." From kneelers to church hymns, to an elaborate vanilla wafer and grape juice communion, to even the use of my mom's robe as a priest costume, not one detail was forgotten.
Raised in a Catholic family, we went to church every weekend. No if's, and's, or but's about it. Through my naive little eyes, I saw the church as a threat. I felt as if I was a slave to it, for if I didn't attend church weekly, I was well on my way to...dun dun duuuuuun... H-E-double hockey sticks!
As a child, hell was even scarier than the unfinished part of my basement! I envisioned hell as a fiery abyss with no Santa Claus or sunshine, and heaven resembling Candyland where you could sleep on clouds and have ice cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
My hell:
My heaven:
So, with ice cream as my main motivator, I continued to go to church.
Recently, as a 20-year-old, I realized if someone ever addressed me and asked me why I go to church, it would seem stupid of me to say, "Well, because there's ice cream in heaven and not in hell." It was time for a reevaluation.
While I may not always agree with everything the church does or says, I can say with my whole heart that I LOVE CHURCH. But it wasn't always this way. In fact, I rarely ever got anything out of it. Church was just an aerobics class with the amount of transitioning we did between standing, to sitting, to kneeling.
With time I've made friends with the church as I've learned to see it through a different perspective. Church is not a place for saints, but for sinners. As a congregation, we all walk in flawed, struggling and in need of greater power than ourselves to help us stand up again.
Church is a magical place. There is no truer magic than walking into church with an open mind and ears ready to listen. Every reading, homily and song lyric is teeming with good advice and life guidance, ironically directed at our lives. If we walk in confident in the fact that God will speak to us if we simply listen, then church may become more of a choice rather than an "I have to."
The number one reason I go to church is to simply remind myself of ways to be positive. Developing an attitude of gratitude is not an easy feat. Heck, if it was, this world would be void of Negative Nellies and chopped full of Positive Patties.
No one, and I mean NO ONE, deserves anything. Rather, everything we have, everything we experience and everyone we encounter, are gifts. Church is my spiritual yoga reminding me of this. To learn how to put a positive spin on even the most tragic circumstances and never underestimate the power of a gracious demeanor.
Now, if someone ever inquires me as to why I go to church, I can answer with something a little more substantial than "for the ice cream in heaven." But not going to lie, I still consider it a very convincing argument.
