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Friday, February 3
I have a CD of classical music entitled “For a Sunday Morning.” The cover says, “Everyone loves Sunday mornings. From the crisp feel of the morning newspapers to the soothing aroma of a fresh blend, it is the best time of the week.”
As I read that I thought, “Oh, so THAT is how the rest of the world spends Sunday mornings!” I, of course, have spent almost every Sunday morning of my life at church. For the past several decades I have been paid to be there. Sometimes I feel a bit of envy for those who can sleep late, or who get a real weekend, but the truth is I love how I spend my Sundays.
I know that a lot of people don't go to church because it is boring, or they don't find it relevant to their lives. However, I think the chief reason for the decline in church attendance is that our culture has become increasingly narcissistic.
Note the appeal that the CD cover made. It is all about me and my comfort. There is nothing about our need to form community if the human race is to survive; it is only taking care of me and mine. Flawed to the point of despair, the church still provides one of the best hours of the week to genuinely connect with others, to give and to receive, and to become aware that our lives are not the axis on which this world spins.
Community, connection, and the invitation to consider larger responsibilities all are gifts we get when we spend Sunday mornings together. Notice I haven't mentioned anything about God or faith. Frankly, I think our culture would need church even if we didn't have God, and the world is greatly diminished because fewer and fewer of us gather or form a larger family than the one with whom we share genetic material.
Resurrecting Sunday morning church might be a hopeless quest, but don't think humankind isn't paying a huge price for the loss of one place where we learn to live and love together. Where else are we reminded that there is something more to this life than earning money that we can spend on good coffee and a newspaper in which our obituary will be very short because our lives were totally self-absorbed?
Blessings,
Michael Piazza
President, Hope for Peace & Justice
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