tomorrow is sunday. typically the day of church, although i might skip again.

i have always had a keen interest in church, i find entertainment in the sermons and the singing, warmth in the community and the pastors and an amazement that strangers get together to sign, give money to and worship something they cannot see.

it started a bit in high school, but it was in my last two years at the university of georgia that i really started getting into church. the college was located in athens, georgia, kind of the middle of what was known as the bible belt territory:

i would wake about 9 am and start my coffee. i would then turn on NPR (national public radio) where they did 1/2 hour of alan watt lectures, then 1/2 hour of martin luther king speeches. (some of his speeches can be found here)

well during listening to the speeches, i would open up the yellow pages (a directory of businesses in the area) and the church section was so thick. hundreds of listings available to choose from. they were separated into different types of churches, mainly catholic and christian, but with any other sub denominations.
baptist, christian, catholic, methodist, prespytarian, lutheran, protestant, episcopalian, jehova’s witness, church of christ, seventh-day adventist, christian science, gospel…..the list goes on.

each time i would visit a new church, and i usually choose a new one each week, the welcoming would be warm and genuine. they were happy to have a new visitor, and i was treated as a valued guest in a new surrounding. i stayed quiet and listened. i was respectful but skeptical, and would normally only attend once or twice before i choose another one.

since leaving the south and going to china, i have not had so much opportunity to attend churches. there are a few expat based churches that i have tried, one that has a particularly fiery singaporean leader who warns against homosexuality and preying on his flock of younger girls in the church.

for some reason, when i attend too much of any church, usually a four or five meetings, i find myself losing interest and feeling that i have learned their ruse. is it because i have not fount yet a powerful preacher to keep me wanting for more? whenever i look at it too much i feel like i have to look away, not so sure that the words they are saying are as real as the man or object they are worshiping.