On occasion, Sunday mornings are for errands and productivity. This morning was one of my productive mornings. As I drove down Lawrence Avenue to get to my recycling center and PetCo, I passed a church. The parking lot was full of cars. These cars, I assume, had carried families or couples or friends to their place of worship.
Growing up, I never attended church regularly. Both my parents were raised in homes that attended church. I don't know why -- maybe someday I'll ask -- but they never took my sister and I to church. I have gone on occasion with my grandparents and friends but I just don't think I need church. I'm sure some of you (no matter what religion) may thing that is strange. But if you grew up with it, wouldn't whatever religion you practice actually be a part of who you are and your beliefs? Just as if you were (or were not) taught to value recycling or to treat people different from you with respect, you learned (even if you had to be dragged to church or where ever) to value religion and that experience and tradition.
I don't think having a religion is bad, but I just don't think it is a necessary part of my set of values. I've learned to forgive people, I respect people (until they do something to lose it) and, most importantly, I believe I am a good person. Not perfect, but good. I try to do the right thing and treat people well. It's a work in progress but I don't think going to church every Sunday will make that suddenly easy.
Sometimes growing up, I felt left out because my family did not attend church. But I don't think it's because I was missing out on practicing a religion but because I was not doing something so many other people were doing. But realizing that difference, I knew that was not the reason to start going to church. The one person who made me wish I was religious is my grandpa. He knew we didn't go to church and he didn't love me less, but I just wonder what it would have been like to share more of that with him. And to know, what exactly he got from the Bible. We shared many of the same characteristics: sense of humor, caring, loyal. It also seemed like we shared the same common sense and practical nature. And that common sense and practicality is where I just don't think I can jump into a religion without having known it growing up and instilled in me. My grandpa, I think, did grow up with religion and that probably made a big difference. But maybe having such practicality, some people need that something else; that need to explain all the unexplainable. To explain or help understand what they can't control. I would think I need that, too. But maybe my rational side knows that not everything can be explained and there are sometimes just not any answers.
What do you do on Sunday mornings?
