Questions in the Car

Last Wednesday night I was driving to church with my three-year-old in the back carseat. He asked, "Mommy, why are we going to church?" Anymore, I try hard to put my answers in three-year-old lingo. "So that God will know we think he's important enough for our time," I said. Ack. The writer in me immediately began revising outloud. "I mean, so that God will know that we know he's important enough for our time." I would have hung my head in shame after two blotched attempts at an answer, but I was driving. His question really made me think about why we go to church on Wednesday night. I'm not sure about your church, but at my church Sunday morning is packed; Wednesday night is sparse. I imagine that if I were to be on David Letterman's show and have to come up with the top ten reasons why people go to church on Wednesday night, the answers would be enlightening. Me, I go because I remember the times when I was closest to the Savior - when my prayer life was alive, when I was excited about the word, when I almost understand - and I want that feeling back. I go because I don't think you can know God if you give him the time you give, say, your writing. I go (on Wednesday night) because my parents went (and took me) on Wednesday night. I go because I know the statistics on how many teenagers leave the church once they get to be adults. I want my son's best friends to be at church. That can only happen if we 'be' at church. I wish I had a best friend at church. I actually like Wednesday night church even more than Sunday (or I would if I wasn't exhausted). I like being in a classroom where lots of people talk. It wasn't during a serman that I started to understand the story behind Ananias and Sapphira, it was in a classroom. It wasn't during a serman that I understood the Prodigal Son, it was during a song. Hmmmm, when Mikey's older, maybe I'll be able to explain better.