Why I love going to church.

I love going to church because it brings me closer to God. I love church because there I can be who I am without posturing or hiding parts of me. I love it because of the beauty of the liturgy. I love it because then I participate in a sacred tradition that has far more integrity than what I can do by myself.  There I can meet God in almost insultingly ordinary things like the bread and the wine of the Eucharist.

I love that I am part of a community which I have not chosen because it's charming or because it suits me, but a community that has been given to me. I love that this community extends over the entire world, throughout the ages, and even into the Kingdom of Heaven itself.

I love that there I am forgiven and raised up. There I learn that it's not all about me. There I get sustenance for my spirit. In church my own views gets challanged and I myself am allowed to challenge. In church things become illuminated for me. I love that in church the story of my own life becomes part of a greater story, and of the stories of the Bible. I love that in church the deep and raw and messy parts of the human condition are not swept under the rug, but acknowledged and adressed. People do not shy away from what is difficult or uncomfortable there.