I've finally taken time to read Steve Himmer's interesting post on going to church (and related things) that prompted Kurt's and AKMA's thoughtful responses.

Steve's post reminds me of something I meant to write a few months back. I was reflecting that participating in church is maybe a unique experience: getting together for the sole purpose (ideally anyway) of focusing on something that's much bigger than the sum of all of us present. I put it in these least religious terms because I was wondering if a person who has no experience of God (or believes in the absence of God) could be there and, perhaps suspending that belief just enough to try on the experience (and I don't know how much is necessary), get something out of it.

For example, the church I attend absolutely rocks when singing hymns, and sometimes lately the organist will drop out entirely for a verse -- I think she's emphasizing something I experienced years ago: if I stop listening to myself and listen to the sound of an entire churchful of people singing, really there and singing a hymn to God, it's a uniquely ... well, it's an amazing experience. I stop short of "a religious experience", which it is to me, for the benefit of my imagined guest. Performing any kind of ensemble music has an element of this group effort towards something immediate, but it must be the aspect of worship that makes this different. It's selfless, yet involving the self directly in community, towards something communally acknowledged as greater than all of us.

There are other elements to a typical church service, of course. But at best that sense is carried through the entire thing. Like Kurt, I think the social aspect of church sometimes gets in the way of what it's really about for me. (And wow, reading back through Kurt's blog to find that post reminds me I've gotta visit Sainteros daily.)