Church on Sunday

Nan Atheism, Christianity, God, , , ,


I rarely go out on Sunday as it’s my self-designated day for washing and cleaning. And besides, most stores are closed. But yesterday was different because I needed a couple of ingredients for our Sunday dinner so I hopped in the car and headed for the grocery store. As it so happened, my chosen route took me past a church.

On my first pass-by, I didn’t think much about it except to notice the parking lot was only semi-full (it was still early). However, on my way back, things had changed and cars were everywhere and anywhere that a parking spot was allowed.

As I continued my way towards home, I thought back to my “church-going” days. It took a bit of digging through my memory banks as it’s been a very long time since I walked through the doors of a church. And even as memories came to the surface, they were fuzzy and ill-defined. Mostly I remembered greeting my “brothers and sisters” before service started (which I always enjoyed).

But the songs … prayers … sermons? None of those memories ever materialized. Perhaps because they no longer hold any significance for me. Perhaps because I now find such things irrelevant and unnecessary.

Then my thoughts turned to the idea of a “God.” And I mused over why so many people feel a belief in same is so important. I looked up at the sky and thought to myself … what is the need behind the idea that some unseen entity exists somewhere “up there?”

Then I took my thoughts a bit further and asked myself … could “something” really exist somewhere in the cosmos? Is there truly some kind of invisible force that interacts with humans? And more specifically … at their request?

It didn’t take but a moment or two for me to answer my self-imposed questions. 🙂

38 thoughts on “Church on Sunday”

  1. Believe it or not, the hymns and worship songs and Sunday school ditties I sang to the kids still are the first to mind when subconsciously singing or whistling… Either in the shower or during the day.

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    • I’m pretty sure I’ve been away from church a LOT longer than you have. 🙂 But yes, some of the “stuff” we endured does tend to cling to some of our brain cells. Regrettably.

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          • Yup. Believe it or not. We miss the culture and community. Since leaving christianity it’s been tough to find community and connection outside the church context.

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          • You have my sympathies.
            Use the internet.
            There must be secular groups near where yo live.
            Besides, does everyone at every group, from chess to skydiving really care if you are Christian?

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          • I read (and hear, and experience) more and more that people in their 30s, 40s, 50s and up who don’t go to church and aren’t living near friends they made through their college years find it hard to meet and/or connect significantly with anyone new (e.g. as friends and peer groups). When you don’t go to church in many parts of the country you don’t find those peer groups.

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          • You’re quite right cp … which is why I think a LOT of people claim to be “Christian” simply because they enjoy the camaraderie they experience in weekly church services. They “believe” just enough that they can sit through the sermon, but in actuality, it’s the association with other people that’s behind it all.

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    • I have the same recollections of Protestant church(es) during my last two years in college. Community singing of really beautiful melodies are good to hear, There was one church I preferred because of their pastor’s musical taste. Those Sunday visits were morally obligatory (boarding school), completely disconnected from any religious thoughts.

      As for something, somehow, somewhere in the skies (above or below us :-)), yes, I vaguely think that a source of this unending flow of energy MAY exist. But without the slightest idea of how that entity would look like, and ruling out any human imagination, I am inclined to agree with the, equally difficult, notion of No Beginning No End.

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  2. Doing any task communally creates a bond with the group effort. When I “retired” from competing in sports in college (I ran out of eligibility), I felt a definite loss. I dreamed for years that I was still competing, keeping my ineligibility a secret. I couldn’t compete at the highest levels because I would be found out (my lack of talent aside). These dreams continued for decades.

    Doing things collectively is something we need socially I gather and we should do these things more often. They do not have to be religious nor do atheists need a damned church, there are do-gooder societies all over the place, always looking for more hands to do some work. Good work that has nothing to do with The Good Book. (We also seem to be addicted to false, misleading labels.)

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  3. I love having my Sunday mornings free now. I do still occasionally go to church for my wife and kids, but it doesn’t bother me knowing that I only go for them. I can sit there and people watch and think about what a bunch of bull it all is.

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  4. So different for me since I only went to church a few times in my life. The few times I went with my parents or a friend, it just never “took.” I do remember going with a neighbor to a Catholic Church back when they still spoke Latin and it was an old beautiful ornate church and that I do remember and the Latin seemed so secretive and other worldly with all the bells and the incense. Then in my teens when I was in school in Ga., I went on a blind date and first he wanted to go to church. I think his Dad was the preacher. Well it was one of these holy roller types and I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. I thought these people were insane and just freaks. Needless to say I never dated him again.

    The need to think there’s something up there?…..I just don’t get it. Maybe they just can’t handle the vast meaningless purposeless of the universe, which it is, and can’t realize, we all are responsible for ourselves and the meaning comes from within and how we treat people and the relationships we have and the love that is shared and the good that we try to do. Seems simple to me.

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    • I have a similar history, Mary. I was exposed to church at various times in my life and it never took. However, unlike you, for some “ungodly” reason I got caught up in it in my early 20’s and “prayed to Jesus.” It took more than 15 years for me to finally wise up!

      I loved your final paragraph. Especially the last part. It does make one wonder, doesn’t it?

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  5. Memories of my Catholic upbringing are distant and fading. However, I remember the surreal feeling of sitting patiently in our church under its high vaulted ceiling and impressive Gothic architecture waiting for the ornately-robed priest to come out and recite Latin. The air was so still, the churchgoers were so silent, and the gentle smell of ladies’ perfume wafted across the pews. It was like being transported into another time and place.

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  6. Nan,

    I have travelled innumerable times to Houston, both southside and northside (The Woodlands, Conroe), to north San Antonio (Fair Oaks Ranch, Hollywood Park), and of course lived throughout Dallas (including Carrollton, Plano, Frisco) most of my life… and every single Sunday — OMFG, especially on Easter weekend! — in those aforementioned suburbs, drivers MUST account for heavy, HEAVY traffic about 11:30am until 12:30pm around those mega-churches like it is weekday rush hour! Many of those areas must have police officers hired to direct traffic at major intersections! 😮 And if you want to eat at ANY surrounding restaurants for a Sunday lunch? You better have reservations or you will be waiting up to 30-45 minutes for a table, IF you’re lucky!

    In west Oak Cliff – Dallas, where I grew up, there is a super mega-church called The Potter’s House – Dallas. Google it, Google Earth it and you will see with your own eyes how enormously gigantic the TWO parking lots are for the thousands of member vehicles on both sides of a major boulevard for no less than two major services. Today, there’s likely 3 services now. And should I even mention one of the biggest Baptist Churches in America, Prestonwood Baptist Church – Plano? HOH-LEE SHEE-IT’N Goliaths, you’d have to see them to believe it! Even the architects and builders of the Roman Coliseum would drop their jaws to the ground looking at the monstrosities! 😵

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    • Just an FYI — this was no “mega-church.” It was just a neighborhood church … but as I said, the parking lot was full! Just goes to show that Sunday entertainment is alive and well … and all for the mere pittance of 10% of your hard-earned income.

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      • Tax-FREE 10%, right? And I am NOT a CPA or professional tax filer, but I believe “tax-free” or tax-deductions, charitable donations, etc, are all throughout the entire church system avoiding our government taxing, yes!? 🤔

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    • TD Jakes’ church, professor? I remember him when he still went by Thomas. While I was at CFNI, I believe that church building belonged to a Pastor Cary Grant? I think his grand daughter attended CFNI as well while I lived in Dallas. Jakes used to preach a lot about heaven many years ago. At the time he was severly depressed and just wanted to die and go to heaven.

      Here in Memphis we have a main road, Poplar Avenue, that’s stays busy all day, every day. It has three (very narrow) lanes in both directions. There are multiple well established churches on that road that all plug up traffic on Sundays. It’s quite a long route and one mega church in particular snags traffic dramatically. For some reason, they’re allowed to have congregants park in one lane in each direction. You can’t begin to imagine how dangerous it gets for a main road of six lanes to be reduced to four for a few hours every Sunday.

      We live in the same area as Houston Levee Road. There are churches after churches on this road and it greatly impacts traffic. Most of them are mega churches. That road connects to another road where there are more mega churches, including Hope Presbyterian. It’s built like a civic center and many contemporary music “artists” have concerts there.

      It’s a shame with all of these security guards/parking attendants on staff at all of these churches, they still use the local police force. They direct traffic and allow congregants to park wherever the hell they want and jay walk on busy roads.

      Meanwhile, I have to wait until noon for pet stores and department stores to open on Sundays. And the only alcohol one can buy on Sundays here is beer and that’s not until noon. It’s still more “liberal” here than my former western Tennessee town.

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      • Yep, TD Jakes’ church. You are correct Charity. Btw, great to see you again! 😍

        Everything you’ve mentioned and added, is true and I concur completely. What makes me laugh and sad both at the same time while driving by, through, or stuck in all the mega-church traffic cluster-f*cks is that every bit of what they believe and are going to hear/learn is not really AT ALL what Jesus taught, his nature/purpose, or his own religion (Judaism) he was simply trying to reform… not start an entirely different, heavily Hellenistic Apotheotic Christology… which is what happened and what the world has today. Funny and sad and most all of them don’t have a clue. 😏 🙄

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        • I think it catches me off guard to see people continue to run to church in droves in 2018. I don’t understand it. They’re all so pushy about it as well with how the general public is at the mercy of their church services’ schedule all day Sunday and even on Wednesday nights as well at times. I mean, I was probably the most indoctrinated person out there and I still left at about 40.

          As far as Jesus is concerned, I view him like our friend Ark does. J C was an asshole. He was arrogant, preachy and a bit of a chauvinist. Meh, I’d pass on him too.

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          • Oh yeah, when it comes to heathens, secularists, or any non-Christians I don’t adhere to ANY sort of divine or religious absolutes. If JC was proven to be a 120% complete and utter historical hoax, it wouldn’t bother me one bit. I’m still livin’ my liberated, happiest, most decadent joyous life as I’ve been doing since 1990 and will till the day my happy dead-ass goes in the ground! 😄😈

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          • Lucky, you got out young. I graduated from high school in ’90, tried a community college where I lived in Georgia for a bit, went to CFNI and graduated in ’93. While there I began to seriously question Christianity. Twenty years later I finally left. I wouldn’t wish that kind of pain for two decades on anyone. The internet and books didn’t cause me to leave, the faith and Bible itself did.

            I noticed a trend with deconverts (those who left in their 30s to 50s) on line. Most women DON’T miss church. Many men do. I have never and will never miss church! I used to hate it when preachers would say “It’s not the building, it’s the people that make up the church.” I used to think “damn, I love the beautiful building, it’s the people that annoy and hurt the crap out of me!”

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          • Well, as one of those males you mention, I do not miss church in the least! When I was in it and active the hypocricy, unfaithfulness, and sexual promiscuity was rampant, whether one was married or not! Bwahahahaha! There is a ton more integrity and honor in my Alternative Lifestyles communities than any church could HOPE to compare! 🤣😈 I often asked, “What in tha HELL is in the water around here!?” It damn sure wasn’t holy water.

            P.S. As to not cludder up Nan’s comment section Charity, if you want to continue this convo and catching up, we can via emails I’m happy to. 🙂

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  7. Nan to your question about a force out there that maybe interacting with us. Could it be there is but it is not on a conscious level, nor is it intelligent or sentient. We are finding more and more information about the universe and the different things that make it up. I think of the higgs boson field and the dark energy. I know different animals here on earth use gravity to guide themselves and that is an invisible force interacting with them. There very well maybe energies that make up the universe we do interact with, feel , or use in ways not yet understood that will be found through scientific investigations of the natural universe. Hugs

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