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Over the Easter holidays I spent a fair amount of my time holed up in a little factory on the edge of Newmarket, to help boost my bank balance. As I sat there on Maundy Thursday I overheard a rather strange conversation behind me, which got me thinking; (‘light machinist’ isn’t a very challenging job so there’s plenty of time for thought.) The general direction of the conversation was which Church the ladies around me would be attending on Sunday. This may not seem strange, until you realise that unless its for a wedding or a funeral the chance of finding many of my co-workers in a church is fairly remote. What made the difference was, that Sunday was Easter Sunday, and they had always gone to Church on Easter Sunday, as my supervisor pointed out “It’s a religious time of year, isn’t it?” How odd, (thought I) that a religious festival celebrating the most miraculous and unlikely part of our faith, the part people find perhaps hardest to accept, should still be going strong and pulling a crowd at the end of the twentieth century. The increase of attendance on this Sunday (very similar to carol services at Christmas) is rarely the work of months of one-to-one contact with a Christian friend. It may not even be the fervent prayers of believing friends and family. This helps. But the fact of the matter is, that what drives people into Churches is a combination of tradition and habit — they have always gone to Church at Easter and Christmas and they always will. It gives us an amazing opportunity to proclaim the Gospel and illustrate what loving and welcoming places our Churches can be, perhaps an opportunity we don’t make the most of — but that isn’t the point I’m trying to make.
Having got this far, my mind wandered off along the following tangent: habitually going to Church can be beneficial for Christians too. I once heard a sermon advocating only going to Church when one felt ‘led by the Spirit’. A nice thought. Unfortunately I for one have a habit of sticking my fingers in my spiritual ears and chanting ‘I’m not listening, I’m not listening, I’m not listening’. Frequently it’s something else that has to motivate me to get out of bed on a Sunday morning. As Christians, we have seem to have a rather ambiguous reaction to habit forming. On the one hand, we’re all for forming and maintaining good habits, but on the other there is a tendency to run scared of anything that might be construed as ritualistic, or, heaven forbid, not Spirit-led. There seems to be a very real fear of allowing something which comes naturally to humans to impinge on making us ‘better Christians’. I think it is well worth making constructive use of the fact that we are all creatures of habit. This is by no means to advocate empty, ritualised attendance; but a habit that brings you into a situation with potential for blessing is surely good. From my own experience I am aware of many times when my habit of Church- going has been a blessing to me. There have been numerous occasions when I really haven’t felt like going out, but have ended up uplifted through Christian fellowship, corporate prayer and worship, and challenging sermons.
I suppose the point I am trying to make is that habit and tradition, though much maligned and distrusted are very useful tools when used well. Having inherited a ‘Christian heritage’ of religious observance, the Church is as well to make to the most of it. I close with a quotation from an American Evangelist I once heard. “Choose your rut with care — you’re liable to be stuck in it for the next twenty years!”
God bless!
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Last modified: 25th November 2005