The Village People

 While I was growing up I heard over and over how I needed to be in church every time the doors were open in order to please God. If I wasn't, then I was disobedient and was therefore subject to God's discipline (aka punishment) in whatever form He chose to dish it out. I can remember the first time I heard the word "backslidden". It was from my Sunday School teacher in reference to me, a child still in elementary school, because my parents had been visiting a different church to follow where they felt God was leading them.

  I wasn't sure what that word meant, but I knew by the way she said it that it must be bad. Therefore, I must be bad..... I felt bad. I felt guilty. For something that I had no idea of its meaning. I felt scared that God was going to get me somehow, somewhere, sometime when I least expected it.

 During my teen years there was a discussion between my high school Bible teacher and a classmate who's father had been a professional baseball player for the Pittsburgh Pirates. It was implied that his family was "sinning" because they chose to miss church on Sundays in order to go to his games and support him during his career.

  Today I am thankful for God's grace that draws on me and causes me to desire to be involved with my fellow believers. Not because of a requirement, but because of relationship.  Not because I have to show up, but because I want to. Showing up doesn't always mean inside of a pretty church building and following a service plan. I have had church encounters in a hospital room, in a restaurant, in a parked car at the grocery store, in an orphanage, on an airplane, around a campfire, in my house, at work, at a funeral home, standing on a sidewalk, sitting on a porch, and yes, even at a sports event.

   I look at "assembling" together as an opportunity rather than an obligation.  It has been said that it takes a village to raise a child..... I need a village. It is with my village people that I find strength. I find comfort. I find wisdom. I find camaraderie. They sharpen my faith. They provide a soft place to land during hard times. Together we worship. Together we pray. Together we serve. Together we share our story. Together we lighten the load. Together....we are better.