Contemplating God in Church
challenges and possibilities
The summer contemplation series continues with an episode on contemplating God while in church. Now, this might seem like a no-brainer, as church was the place generations of people have come to pray, worship, contemplate and commune with God, but for so many people these days, church just does not feel like a place they can find or experience God.
When churchy people don’t display the fruit of the Spirit, or seem to love their neighbor, or just don’t reflect the Jesus we know, it can present real obstacles for some of God’s beloved to find a home or even find God at all within church walls. And as much as I wish the modern American Catholic Church would own that reality and make a shift toward welcome, it might be on we individual faithful to own our faith in every place we are (including intentionally chosen churches) as we grow in relationship with God for ourselves.
There is so much richness and grace available in many churches - in the art, in the symbols, in the music, in the people, and most importantly in the Sacraments and in the presence of God, that I pray we can find some way to open ourselves to that goodness and contemplate the heart of God within church walls, even when the churchy people sometimes let us down.
Listen to Raised Catholic episode 191: Summer of Contemplation 2024 Week Nine - Contemplating in Church on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts (or read the transcript), and then come on back to the comments to let me know about a recent church experience of yours. You know I’d love to see you there!
