Missing Church

I’ve been away from church for awhile.  That said, I think in the general category of excuses for missing church, mine hold up pretty well.  Vacation and some professional development pulled me away.  It’s good every once in awhile, especially if church is your work, to take a break.

But I find that after a few weeks that I am missing church.

Part of this is missing the rhythm and routine of my work.  While I was visiting family these past weeks my nephew Cole quizzed me about my work.  As I explained, yes, it was true that I usually had to write something to “say in front of people every single week.”  Then he asked, “Do you work any other day besides Sunday?” “Sure,” I said.  “Most days.”  “Really?” he asked.  “What do you do??” That was a good question with a really long answer for another blog entry, but all that stuff I do is part of what I’m missing: administrative work, planning, communications, study, pastoral care…while I’ve been well kept in the loop by my tremendous colleagues, I find myself missing the immediacy of everything I do on all those days besides Sunday.

But most of all, I’ve been missing…church.  Sundays.  I admit the other places I worshipped while I was away didn’t measure up, in my mind, to the Calvary community.  While there are many reasons for that, the main reason for me is that the Calvary community is made up of “my” people—the people whose lives regularly intersect my own, the people with whom I walk the journey of faith day in, day out, sharing all the tough times and all the wonderful times that make up the human experience.

Not everything about this life together is happy and easy, of course, and there are hard conversations and situations that await my return.  Believe me, I haven’t been gone long enough to forget that.

But I find I’m out of sorts, missing church, and so glad to be back.