i grew up attending church
sunday morning, sunday evening, wednesday nights, and an occassional special service on another night
uffda (that is scandinavian for wow or whew)
then i became a pastor and practically lived inside a church building
when i went to bible college i had to leave my third year because i was overloaded with church culture. i guess the same thing happened after 15 years as a pastor. i had to get away from church culture and just be the church.
be the church. we don’t ‘go to church’ because church is an invisible distinction of people who believe in Jesus. so all the rest we attach to ‘church’ tends to be superfluous.
i haven’t been attending a religious institution on sundays for five years. upon returning i observed many things that are non-essential to my faith. i’ve always been a non-conformist and as a result i accumulate a lot of questions about why people do what they do (social psychology).
i have a lot of questions after my first sunday back, even if my reggae version of a worship song was well received.
one thing is certain though, the people are warm and kind; i can be friends with these people.
the local 4th of july parade was a really big deal. people were setting chairs out on the street at 7am for a 3pm parade.
the rodeo is a really big deal. all three nights sell out and people crowd in to see brave men and women grapple with large animals – it is a real hoot.