Newsweek magazine includes stats this week about the percentage of Jewish Americans who go to temple. I have Jewish friends who self-identify – spiritually – as atheists which has always felt foreign to me. Being Jewish for these friends is about being culturally, but not faithfully, Jewish.
We Christians all have friends who are culturally, but not faithfully, Christian. It sounds judgmental and a bit obnoxious to make this declaration, but the truth is that followers of Jesus do not “go to church” like we used to. According to the Newsweek article, less than 40% of all Christians “attend religious services.”
Hmm.
I visit lots of congregations these days and I sometimes ask other visitors, “So, what do you think? Did you find this worship service to be spiritually nourishing?” Actually, they often say that “worship is boring.” They want to love it. They want to find spiritual depth. They want to find community.
And yet “nobody goes to temple.” Or “to church.” Your thoughts?
A Church for Starving Artists 
Boring to me implies one is not entertained by whatever one is participating in. I’m not that interested in being entertained in worship. I wondering how many folks find worship meaningful or enriching. I suspect the numbers would still be low.
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When discussing this with church members and leaders 99% of the responses can be summarized as:
“But it’s meaningful to me.”
1. I’m not sure that’s true.
2. That’s not the point.
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@ Liz – Thanks for your comment. There are indeed people who might want to be entertained, but I believe that there are more people who long to be stirred spiritually and much of the worship I witness is lifeless. And it’s not about happy/jumpy worship; it’s about authentic, thoughtful, Good News worship that connects people to God.
We all need this connection to The Holy, but worship too often seems rote, with sermons answering questions that nobody’s asking.
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