It was unfortunately a typical Sunday for me — no church because either Daniel or I was sick (in this case, me) so I did the Sunday readings on my own. I was reading through my Facebook this morning and my friend Kate had posted this video.
It’s Matt Maher singing “Lord, I Need You” at World Youth Day during Eucharistic Adoration and it almost brought me to tears to see. (I think if I wasn’t so tired, it would have induced tears.) For one thing, you’ve got 3 million young people kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament and praying. For another, Maher himself is kneeling as he’s playing which shows that he gets the gravity of what he’s singing.
It brings to mind the question of whether I’m this passionate about my faith. I do actually have an excuse for missing church this Sunday (still getting over bronchitis) but for the last few years, I will admit that I’ve had a lot of Sundays sitting in church and wanting to be anywhere else but there… regardless of what church I am in. It has nothing to do with Jon’s previous parishes and synods throwing us under the bus and it doesn’t mean that I hate Jon’s preaching or that I don’t support his ministry. It isn’t a crisis of faith — I’m passionate in my love for God and in my belief in Jesus Christ. There is still something that just isn’t right and seeing this video is showing me that I’m missing something.
Have you seen that CNN blog post about why millenials leave the church? Was it your wall where I saw it?
I actually think the issue is even more complicated than she has described. I think many times faith and passion about it, and living one’s faith every day feels very much removed from the church setting. I love my synagogue, because while maintaining Jewish tradition, it also focuses on the every day.