I write this as the three of you are 16 (almost 17), 20 and 22 respectively. Our church family has made a great deal of difference to our family over the years and help stabilize and center our family. I fear the value of it is lost and worry that you will not come to enjoy the value of a church family.Make no mistake. Organized religion (and unorganized religion) is at best a necessary evil. That might be grist for a future memo. The failures of the people who head up and run the church are no reason to casually absent yourself from Church. When your mom and I grew up and reached college, the church had nothing to offer us. I was lucky enough to marry a woman who understood (intuitively I think) that we needed to go to church and we got married early and that is what we did. We missed a lot of services but then we had Jon and we... well we missed a lot when he was first born. We were so tired all the time. But eventually we found a good church and with Patrick and the Laura... we got faithful and fell back into the family traditions we were raised with. Even though you were raised that way, you guys all get married and have kids so late I really do fear you will miss the benefits.
Quick reasons to go to church:
1. It gives you ONE discipline in your life. As a Becker we do not have many. Showing up one hour a week to pause, nominally for the purpose of showing respect to a just and merciful God is good for you.
2. It gives you an hour with your own thoughts, even (and sometimes especially if you are just going through the motions). I tend to think some of my biggest and most generous thoughts when lodged in a church pew listening to a bad choir or a boring sermon.
3. Over time you build a community of friends and supporters who will pick you up when you fall, in all kinds of ways.
4. A good church gives you organized consistent opportunities to serve other people which is one of the biggest keys to happiness and good brain chemistry.
There are a lot more reasons then this to go to Church but this is something I wanted to get down... while i was watching my TCU Horn Frogs under perform against Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl.
