Why Do We "Go" to Church?

Reading something on line through an email or blog post is always tricky because it can be difficult to understand the emotional context through which it was meant to be delivered. As you read the title of this post what kind of emotional assumptions did you make? Maybe you read this and heard a cynical tone from a person who has given in to the futility of the Sunday morning gathering thing we do every week. Maybe you thought of more of a "desire to discover" tone pointing towards a person that really is looking for the deeper connection of why we do what we do with the whole church thing.

No matter what context you might personally put behind a question like this, I believe that almost any American living today would have something to say on the matter. There are a lot of us out there who make attending church a significant part of our weekly routine. Those of us who do might have questions like, "What are we really after here?" or "Which traditions that we engage in are helping us and which traditions are just empty traditions?". There is another group of us Americans that don't make attending a church part of our weekly routine. Those of us who don't might have questions like, "Why do people feel the need to drive to a building every week to connect with God?" or "What on earth do people hope to find spiritually by singing songs and sitting through some lecture every week?". These are obviously just a few of the questions and discussions one might engage in amongst a myriad of possible discussions revolving around this mysterious and strange thing we do every week. I think what's more important than anything is that people continue to ask these questions. We should never stop examining why we do things or don't do things when it comes to spirituality.

That being said, I really find it interesting that over the couple thousand years that Christ's church (including a gaggle of different denominations) has been around, our terminology has shifted some what. When you read about the church in the Bible, it seems that it was something we were to be. Over the years we have somehow adopted the idea that church was something we are supposed to go to. I know that a lot of people that attend a form of Church event might really resonate with both ideas, but I just find it interesting that this developed over the years.

Beyond that, I have to ask myself why I engage with a community every week surrounding the idea of spirituality. Am I attending to grow and develop spiritually? Am I attending to connect with God along with a bunch of other people, believing that something happens when we all try to do that together? (Where two or more are gathered....) Am I attending just because it's something I've done for a long, long time?

All of these things rattle around in my head from time to time. I really do wonder why most people come to church or don't choose to attend and I find the different answers extremely interesting. I'm not pretending that I think there is one hidden answer out there. I just think that when you bring up the topic of this church thing, it's always really enlightening to hear how people engage with this. Why do you "go" to church? Why do you choose to not attend? I would love to hear some opinions here!