Faith Works 6-2-23

Faith Works 6-2-23
Jeff Gill

A semi-annual exhortation for summer
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School is out, Memorial Day behind us, and the summer sprawls on ahead.

Granted, like so many things, summer ain't what it used to be. With so much going back into action not after Labor Day but on or just after August 1, it does seem as if summer is shorter. If you have school age kids, that's definitely true.

However you mark the warmer months, whatever you do to get away, I want to suggest something I know I've said many times before, but bears repeating. Try going to worship on vacation.

There are fine folk who are religious, if you will, about their church attendance through the year, but see summer break time as an opportunity to take a break from all kinds of routine, including attending services.

I get it. I really do. My own religious tradition is not rooted in any beliefs that you must be in church for God to pay any attention to you, or your prayers, we just say along with many Protestant Christians that the Hebrews 10:25 instruction means we really oughta.

Preachers can put a bit too much weight on that one verse; again, I don't mean to say that missing a Sunday (or Saturday, or Friday depending on your practice) is the same as leaving God out of your life. I would say, along with every gym director and coach on the practice field, that missing a regular routine can quickly turn into no routine at all.

What I do want to suggest is that attending a worship service, especially for those who are deeply engaged in their own faith community, somewhere that's unfamiliar to you can be a revelatory and instructive experience.

Just like sitting in a distant hotel room watching the evening news, and noting what's the same, and what's different, it makes coming home a new experience. The same thing about any vacation getaway: you see your own life in a different light when you return from it.

Worship in a different place, where no one knows you, can trigger all sorts of useful reflections on your own habits and assumptions back home. I've seen people come back and talk about their having visited a service and been told "you're in my seat" and now they want to tell everyone why that's a terrible horrible awful thing to say to our visitors here at home. And trust me, preachers smile because we can say that from the pulpit at length and convince no one, but that lived experience re-told first hand can turn a congregation around.

The songs that are sung, the instruments that are used, the style of preaching you hear, and even odd details in the architecture or decor: you gain something by seeing a place fresh, and finding your way into worship in that new setting.

And depending on where you are vacationing, sometimes after the service as you deal with the fascinating experience of being the visitor in a church, you learn from the locals who tell you about things or suggest options you never would have heard about as just a tourist sticking to the tourist stuff and touristy places. That's not why I recommend the practice, but it's a nice fringe benefit.

I'd love to hear about anyone's experiences this summer visiting worship in a place they're traveling!


Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher around central Ohio; he's taking an extended vacation of sorts this summer going nowhere. Tell him where you're going to church on the road at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.