For what purpose do we attend church?

To learn? To worship? To be inspired and uplifted? To be humbled and edified? 

Do we want an emotional experience that fires us up for a day and a half at best, but fizzles out before the next high? Or a deeper, richer, fuller understanding of the faith, that might not be as bright and cheery at times, but ultimately sustains us for longer? 

With so many Christian denominations, the reasons behind why one attends church can vary widely. Most seem favor an emotional experience over a spiritual one. And these experiences are not bad to have. At least every once in a while.

It is good to sing the praises of the power and glory of God. It is good to inspire people with the love of Christ. It is good to feel good about going to church. Wanting an emotional experience is not wrong. But it is lacking, and could potentially be dangerous. 

For most, the aforementioned is all they want in their relationship with God. To feel good. To leave church each Sunday feeling loved, supported, and pumped up by the (forgive the harshness of the term) “act” put on before them by their pastor and praise team/worship band. But does this experience foster a sustainable relationship with God?

It might, for some. Some people can hold onto these good feelings and carry them through each week. But I cannot do this. Nor can many others. 

Humans are anxious. We are weak, not having the strength to be carried by simple song and bible study. We need more than a day of emotional uplifting every week to aid us in our journey towards Christ.

Why? I can speak from personal experience.

I am not always capable of “feeling” God's love. His presence often eludes me, as a person living in the secular world. But that does not mean He is not there, nor that He does not love me, nor that He does not exist. And spiritually, I know this. If I based all this solely on emotion, I'd be a wreck. I would assume I had fallen away, or that I am “not saved”, simply based on what my emotions tell me at that point in time. But God is bigger than our feelings, anxieties and temptations. He does not simply exist when we feel that He does. 

And it is important to note that it is much easier to fall into temptation when we feel this way. Church becomes a segregated emotional and cerebral experience. A series of mental gymnastics and factoids external to our own souls instead of a lifestyle and a truth that resides in our hearts. While knowledge is nice, it is hollow. We need spiritual building blocks upon which we can grow in faith, not just verses and phrases that can be difficult at times to internalize and apply to our own struggles. 

In the traditional Orthodox liturgy, God is in everything we do. Our hymns are taken right from biblical texts, as are our epistle and gospel readings. Icons line the walls of the church and our homes, depicting the miracles of Christ and the lives of the saints. Both at church and in our icon corners, we light candles and burn incense. He exists even in the Eucharist and we commune with Him each and every Sunday. These traditions, which follow us into our everyday lives, keep us on the straight and narrow; following us to work, school and everywhere else in this fallen world. 

This makes it much easier to see where our creator exists: everywhere.