Life As Performance Art 30

¡Feliz Madrugada! I am up again a little too early. Feliz madrugada, for those of you who haven't yet encountered this little early morning greeting on my pages, are the Spanish words for happy wee hours of the morning. So, there really is no direct translation. I am not horribly under-slept today, though I will try to go down for an half hour or so before leaving my apartment this morning, and yes I will be attending church this morning. I have just filled out a survey about my church attendance, my feelings about my parish church and the direction I would like the church to go in. It has been an interesting process filling it out, but I do object to the tone of some of the questions. This way of asking questions seems to suggest that the church is merely one of many consumer choices that one might make, and I felt like I was being targeted as a consumer of the Christian religion, and my whole experience and understanding of the faith of Jesus Christ could not be more different. Not to mention, that there is absolutely nothing in the Gospels or in the New Testament that would suggest that one might want to become a Christian to fulfill a personal need, desire or appetite. Rather, I am in church for one reason, and for one reason alone, and that is to obediently witness to Christ in fellowship with like-minded and like-hearted others of good will and good character. For example, the question, why did I make this parish my church? As in, why do I prefer butter over margarine? My answer: "God seems to have led me here. Otherwise, why would we need another reason?" Or, how does attending this parish contribute to how I live my life in the world in general? I replied that I can't answer that question, since I don't attend to receive, rather to connect with others and share. Neither do I attend this church in order to "feel happy and fulfilled" but I do feel content there, but as a byproduct of obedience. Here is what I wrote in conclusion: "i really have trouble relating to some of these questions. The approach tends to be from a consumer perspective and that has nothing to do with my perception of church. I do not attend in order to satisfy any personal need or craving. I attend out of obedience to God, and any personal gratification is simply a byproduct of service and obedience. As his people, we have to rise above the consumer perspective." I am not optimistice that the clergy reading my survey, or this blogpost, are going to get my perspective. The Anglican Church seems to have really bought into a worldly and consumerist way of seeing things, and I fear that anything I will have to say about this will fall on deaf ears. Still might be worth a try.