Our church is something that is caught - this was something said over on Chalice Spark. She is writing about the hard job of being a religious educator at a Unitarian Universalist church and something about what she and the commentators are talking about resonated with me.
"It is sometimes hard to get across the idea that you really need to be there every Sunday to get the full experience"
I have been tremendously delinquent from church since winter. Last fall our Sparkly Girl went off to college and I just didn't make room in my life for church. Then I started to pick and choose which talks I wanted to hear. Then I didn't want to go because I didn't want to either share about my life or not share about my life - it is a small town and one piece of gossip can fly like the wind. So, I haven't gone.
When our daughter was small I taught Sunday School for a number of years at our church in San Francisco. The RE was a glorious woman who worked so hard to accommodate all of our "free spirits" - by this I mean the crazy parents, not the kids. She did a great job and I had tremendous fun planning and sharing with the kids each Sunday. It was a large congregation with a full RE and so we never had to worry about a class happening. At the time I never thought of that as a blessing, but now I see that it was.
After moving to Eureka Springs we participated in Sunday School in a much smaller congregation and from 7th - 10th grade it was a full house. Lots of kids learning with Al - who was such a great sport about designing curriculum around their interests. (one year it was Spong, then world religions... good stuff). Then in 11th grade kids lost interest or just didn't want to go anymore and it was just my daughter and Al every Sunday. They met in a coffee shop and read the religion section of the paper together. I think she loved every moment of it - I hope he knows how much it meant to us to have another adult interested in her spiritual life.
Now, a good friend of mine is trying to keep Sunday School alive in our little congregation - there are a few families who sporadically come and go, but she is having a very hard time keeping it together. The odd thing is that the families bring their children to Sunday School, but do not stay for church - so there is no connection to the congregation and the commitment seems to be waning.
So, what is it about our denomination and our lack of committment to stay in the game and go the long haul? Why do we so easily give it up? What does that say about us as a group and us as parents that we forgoe this so easily? I guess I am wondering why it isn't important enough to commit to.
