Blogs are the Devil

tiffany and i are going to a new church today. well, not new. in fact, i've gone there many times. it's grace presbyterian, which is where my friend Rodney pastored for a long time. but the church is under new leadership, so of course the place has a different feel to it. i went last week and the preaching was amazing. he talked about the story of Jephthah in Judges. i learned a ton during the sermon, which are is a phrase that i have rarely uttered. if i were choosing a fellowship for the preaching alone, it would be an easy decision.

unfortunately, there's much more that goes into this kind of decision than that. ever since i've returned from my visit to ohio, i've been restless. visiting the landing place showed me just how rich a life church can provide. it seemed like a lot of the goodness of the college life (friends together all the time, shared meals, etc.) with all of the goodness of the church (formal worship, communion, prayer...i don't know if they have sermons, though?). any other church experience seems like it will pale in comparison. i'm starting to think that a church experience that is not also a community experience is not a real church experience.

so what does that mean for me? do i try to start my own church/community? here are some possible problems with that idea:

1. i don't have a house. a central meeting place is pretty important, it seems.
2. i don't know a whole lot of people, if anyone, who would also be interested in doing that.
3. theologically, i don't even know if that's okay for me to start some gathering a call it my church. my catholic friend jon would probably stop being my friend.

there are several other reasons, but you get the gist. another option is going to grace. here's the main problem with that: it doesn't seem like a real community. it seems like one of those places people go on sunday and where the ones who are really involved hang out with each other every few weeks. this isn't just a problem with grace, but really just about every church in our area.

then there's the salvation army option and the ebc option. i could make long pros and cons list for all of these possibilities, but that sounds a little boring for public consumption.

maybe the real question here is should i be posting this on losetouch where people could actually respond? maybe this is another reason why i shouldn't blog.