Seeking The Truth in Church (Soul Searching Series)

Photo Credit: Обичам да съм Турист. И зная как. 

Стаята на Пауна (The Peacock Room), Castello di Sammezzano е Реджело, Тоскана, ИталияAdd caption

On Good Friday this year, I coined a new term,"Churching." 

The term came to mind when I noticed a man strolling his iPhone throughout the service and seemingly not  

paying attention to a word the priest was saying.

"Churching" was born: People who show up in church just to be there, out of a sense of obligation, or by believing that just showing up they are making a commitment of some sort.

The way I see it, "Churching"  is done for some specific reasons:

1. To gain respect in a local community.
2. To teach children "church" values.
3. To make social and business connections.(Really!)
4. To create peace in the household.



"Churching" is so different from "Going to Church," as this should involve Soul Searching and going
deeply within ourselves to find answers to life's troubling questions.

Photo Caption: Collection of Dr. D. Ash. http://chantalbethel.com

"Going to church" sometimes can mean going into an empty church, as pictured in the cover photo, simply because we find solace there. My best moments, actually, are spent in empty churches or monasteries. That's where I find so much peace exuding from the energy within the walls and the "spirit" of those who have prayed before and, those who will pray, after me.

Empty churches help me remember that the Spirit within me lives in everyone else, and that we're all just outplaying our individuated Souls' roles on Earth...through the ONE spirit!

 I get connected to my Soul easily in empty churches this way, and  real "soul searching" can begin. (I also can do this during my meditation periods at home. But why not go into a building, too, and feel it?) 

Understand... I don't really knock people for "churching." Everyone is at a different stage of evolution in his/her life's journey.  (Maybe, as this author suggests, the person just may be looking up bible verses. Judging people who use iPhones during church.)

Showing up at  a church at least gives recognition to the fact that there is a higher power at work in our lives. Even this small attempt at recognizing a higher being can bring peace to many people.

I also don't want to dismiss the importance of the iPhone user based on the surface of things, either:
Who knows if this man didn't need a distraction while truly absorbing all details of the priest's message?

The man's presence on Good Friday suggests that even if he's not there, yet, his Soul/Spirit is trying to guide him and is waiting for him to want to know more of the truth.

It simply may be, as noted above, the man went to church to please his wife, who was sitting beside him. If it brings peace in the house, why not?   So... "churching"... can give others hope of things to come.

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." -Hebrews 11: 1

What is it about "going to church" or churching that brings us hope and promise?

For one thing, we can be sure that both these activities give our lives some guidelines and parameters for living.

This is the blessing of religion.

It sets limits on our potential human excesses. It gives us a sense of decency and a recognition that we have an obligation to live our lives in a pattern that dignifies our humanity.

 It's not the building!Sharing & participating in "community" is another aspect of going to church.

People who don't "Go to church" or go "churching" may be just as spiritual, just as committed to decency and the dignity of our human experience... perhaps even more so. But the very act of going into a church suggests to the world that we recognize the existence of a higher being, and we're ready and able to submit.

The only problem I have with those who are able but don't go "churching," to church, or don't care about the spiritual or anything greater than themselves,  is their seeming belief that the world begins and ends with the way they view it.

"No man is an island." We need human interactions for spiritual growth.

Our egos are the rulers of our personalities. We cannot let them reign.

If we allow our egos to tell us that the world begins and ends with us, i.e. the personalities that we are conscious of being, and that there is no greater power within our lives, operating our lives, then eventually, we're headed for trouble.

The ego camouflages all of God's (Spirit within) work and that of our Souls, which direct our ways and walk in the world. Being the "presenter" of our "beingness" to the world, some egos would have us believe that what we see begins and ends there.

Solitude IS good for spiritual growth.
But be careful in not making it a permanent state!

This is far from the truth.

Our egos...our personalities...are the least powerful parts of ourselves.

Real soul searching begins only when we allow our personalities to crumble, allowing our real selves to begin to shine through our human exteriors.

The truth of our being is hidden from the world, indeed,  even from ourselves.

By taking a step into a church, whether to do soul searching, as those "going to church," or even "churching," we are saying to the world and ourselves that we recognize this truth: "There is a greater power at work in the world and in our lives as our lives."

So let's welcome all "churching" people into our mosques, synagogues, churches, temples and monasteries.

Doing so just may be the start of something BIG for that man or woman!

Namaste',
Che'