Why Go to Church?

I'm reading a great book by Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, "Why Go to Church?" Many, many thought provoking ideas. Not an "easy read" in the sense you can not skim through it and the ideas presented can be 'heady'. But his style is very conversational and the vocabulary not too elevated. I know this is a book I'll reread as there is no way I can begin to absorb all he says. I'm already look at Mass in a new light. It's pretty exciting. What's more invigorating, is that he presents ideas similar to Albert Haase' in his book, "Coming Home to Your True Self: Leaving the Emptiness of False Attractions" which I am also reading.


Then to see both their ideas dovetailing nicely into my Bible Study classes. And the best part, is that they're not preachy or too theological but very practical...how to live as a Christian in today's world, not a monastery. So I've been mulling on lots of these ideas about church, God, and living right and I open my email to find this:

Why go to Church?
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If you're spiritually alive, you're going to love this! If you're spiritually dead, you won't want to read it. If you're spiritually curious, there is still hope!

Why Go To Church?

A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday.. "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all."

This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:

"I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals But I do know this. They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!" When you are DOWN to nothing... God is UP to something! Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible! Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!

"When Satan is knocking at your door, simply say, "Jesus, could you get that for me?

I like it.



Had fresh salad from my garden of green peppers, red peppers, cucumbers and lettuce last night. The Imp said the lettuce is so good she doesn't even need any salad dressing, and she likes the fact that it's all green. She's not sure why people like the white stuff on iceberg lettuce. Since the Imp is not drawn to healthy eating (understatement) it makes me feel good to give her something I know is chemical free and healthy that she likes. She doesn't like cucumbers much or my peppers, but she eats the lettuce. Gotta celebrate the small victories.





The Imp is busy with crew. She had a regatta last weekend. The boys and girls use the same boats, so the girls wait at the finish line to get in the boat as the boys finish to row to the starting line as a warm-up. Well, the boys-8 tipped their boat so the girls-8 event had to be postponed while they got the boat upright and got as much water out as they could. When the girls finished their race they went to lift the boat out of the river, but couldn't. It took a slew of men to lift the boat. They turned it upside down to drain the water...well over 100 lbs of water fell out. The Imp said no wonder it felt like they were pulling dead-weight....they were! She's off to a huge regatta in Georgia next weekend. She's not too thrilled. She's been slated as stroke in a 4 person boat and she feels she's not qualified. As I know absolutely nothing about crew, I can offer no advice or opinion, other than "hang in there." I think it's great she's doing something she does not easily excel at. She seems to enjoy the overall experience and as of now plans to continue in the spring.