“Oh for the love of biscuits, we have church tomorrow,” I said one Saturday night before going to bed. Sunday morning comes earlier than I expected it. As I lay in bed with my eyes lids drooping and my breath slowing down by every millisecond, I hear someone screaming for me to wake. I think it’s probably my mom, but I’m not sure. I can’t focus right now.
I ignore the screaming as I roll around and hug my pillow. Kids my age usually do not wake up at 7:00am just to go to church. After calling my name so many times, the person suddenly stops. I sigh with joy. The moment the yawn leaves my mouth I hear footsteps - the slow yet quickened footsteps of a hunter about to catch his prey.
It’s like this every Sunday. Someone screams my name for about a minute, and I tune them out. I am forced to go to church when I don’t even believe in any of my church’s views.
I enter a huge room painted white with rows of chairs all around, arranged in a detailed pattern noticeable to anyone who comes into the room. At the far end lays a space with a stand. I gaze at the speakers everywhere with their coverings in black, green, and yellow. The floor is lined with red carpet.
At the back of the room are about ten black chairs arranged in a stagger form. The chairs in front of the black ones are also staggered. Hidden away in one of the corners of the room is a huge board with white and black colors matched evenly. Next to that board is a golden paper with words written by a magnificent magician. One stomp after another and perfectly made creatures start pouring down into the room. Are they angels? Creatures with porcelain faces start to walk into the room at exactly 10:00am, not a second early or a second late.
Many storage buildings surround the church, except in the front, which is facing the parking spaces. Right behind the parking spaces is a crowd of hedges, where there probably used to be a storage building.
Inside is neither magnificent nor any better than the outside. The walls are painted in creamy white with posters everywhere having something to do with God and Jesus. The pulpit at the far end of the room has a small poster on it saying in block and italics, “In God We Trust,” to show the room is a church.
Article comments
1 - Joanne Huspek
It might be time to shop around for a new church. Your indifference isn't helping you spiritually.
2 - ruvy
Your parents seem like they are doing a good job of turning you into an atheist. Nothing sours a person so successfully on beliefs as does hypocrisy. You're evidently old enough that you've outgrown your parents' attempt to model good behavior. That is why your dad falls asleep and your mother doesn't care, but why she tells you that "church is good for you".
Perhaps, in your own way, as you are leaving this Sunday, you can tell them what I've told you. Do it as you leave - otherwise it will not have the intended effect.
3 - G
Sounds more like you're on your way to being a critical thinker. You also seem to care more about what's at heart instead of on the surface. Unfortunately, these things will put you at odds with most of American society. Good luck to you.
I'm an atheist because I'm a critical thinker, not the other way around.
4 - Cannonshop
Church...
Church can be good for you-if you have a small business, it's a good way to drum up clientele, if you're seeking a career in business locally, it's a good place to make friendly contacts. If you're looking at a career in politics, it's a two-edged sword (as in Obama's fine example), of course, but notice that most political types attend rather regularly, regardless of how their actions speak regarding faith or lack thereof.
What it ISN'T, is about god. Church is social, it's political, and it's organized.
In that sense, being percieved as a "good church-goer" is probably of use to you from a professional, and to an extent, social aspect. A tool for the toolbox, as it were.
It's NOT good if you're seeking a path to what you might consider 'righteousness', or 'Enlightenment' (well, unless you like listening to the gossips and consider who's doing what with whom to be enlightening...), it's also a decent guage of what passes for 'conventional morality' in modern, non-media society.
But it is not, of itself, englightening from a spiritual standpoint. Only by searching on your own will you find THAT.
5 - Larry Flischenbaurer
You are a very gifted writer. You have communicated your frustration quite well to all of us readers. I wonder if you've communicated this frustration to your parents in the same manner. I know it's a lot easier for me to write this than for you to have a serious sit-down with your parents, but if you present yourself as a critically thinking adult as you have in this post, i think your parents will listen to you. You'll still have to go to church I'm sure, but at least you and your parents will have a more open and honest relationship which is very important. Just for curiousity's sake, which country did you emigrate from?
6 - Condor
Some "assembly" is required, in all things from Christmas presents to Church. Dance a little, it's good for the soul.