Texting God

For those of you not familiar with the basic Christian calendar, this past Sunday was Easter Sunday, supposedly the time when Jesus rose from the dead. Easter has always been a big deal in my family because my mother’s parents view it as a great time to get everyone together and have a big breakfast, followed by the entire family going to church. I’m a very non-religious person, but I knew that this meant a lot to my mom so I toughed it out.

As with every year, the family breakfast was nothing too special, but I could tell my grandparents enjoyed having all of their children there with them, including most of their grandchildren. With that being said, the big family breakfast has never been what I didn’t like about Easter Sunday, and that didn’t change this year.

This year, church was a difference experience, and it really made me wonder what religion is becoming, and why people really do what they do. This year at church, I ended up sitting between my grandfather and my mother, but most importantly there was a pair of middle-aged women sitting in the row in front of us, who at first glance looked extremely focused on the service, and were kind of nodding along with what the minister was saying. I then realized that this was far from the truth, and they were actually texting each other.

This really made me wonder how that could have happened. Coming from the texting generation, where we never go anywhere without our cell phones, I know that there church is one of the few places where I wouldn’t even think of texting. So there I am, sitting there, watching people my mother’s age texting back and forth and giggling like teenagers. When did they ever think this was ok? Sadly, this was not the most disheartening or mind-boggling event during church that morning.

After the women in front of me put me in a fairly cynical mood, my mom turned to me during one of the hymns and asked me “Why do you never sing?” I’ve thought about this question for years, and I just never saw the point of singing in church, so I decided that now would be a good time, and responded to her question with “Well, why do you?”

She didn’t have an answer. I spent the rest of the service wondering how many people were in the building, and how many people were actually paying attention, and in general why they were here. Why do we sing in church? I understand the role of the choir, but why is it that everyone is supposed to sing certain songs, and that if you choose not to sing, you are viewed as different, or wrong, even though half of the people singing are only doing so because they think that it is what they are supposed to do?