Watch TV and Play Video Games

I was driving over to water Brendan's lawn today and I passed a church that isn't too far from his house. They are in the process of replacing the roof. It is one of those very steep church type roofs and I just can't imagine the terror I would be in if I had the job of re-roofing the church. I don't mind telling you that I would be praying to any and all deities that might possibly be listening to an old worn out retired letter carrier if I were up there. I suppose it would be the perfect place for prayer.

The church is surrounded by hydro lines and I suppose all of the other kind of cables and electronic connections needed in a modern society. I'm sure that when the church was built, it was away from all of the surrounding homes and stood gleaming white with a black roof. The very design called out to the faithful to come and worship. Now, with all of the largish trees, residential homes and the busy intersection, it almost disappears from view.

Religion itself seems to be disappearing from view lately. Oh, it has been coming for quite a while, but I have noticed that religion has slipped in importance since I was a child. My parents weren't what you would call religious, although dad would often call on Jesus when he was working or talking to Steve and I. People haven't changed very much in the last ten thousand years, so I wonder why the loss of interest in religion. I personally am ambivilent about the whole thing. As Brendan says, he's an atheist with doubts.

I’ve heard it said that we worship a new God now, the God of technology. That sounds impressive, but really doesn’t mean a thing. We don’t actually worship machines. Sure there are probably some whack-a-doodles out there that will bow down to a computer, but so far as I know, there aren’t any mainstream techno churches. I think the need for faith is still in the human psyche, but we just have no acceptable outlet for it.

 

The vast majority of educated people have a hard time with doctrine that has changed little in over 5,000 years. I’m talking about the many faces of Christianity, but you can slot in most of the other major world religions. The language of the church isn’t even our language, but the language spoken thousands of years ago. Is it any wonder that the people can’t understand or get behind a religion that speaks in a dead language.

We haven’t changed, we still want to know why we are here. We want to know what the point of it all is. We want to know if there is something to look for after this life is over. I, like many others want to know why the universe is so complex if there is no meaning. I am sure that sometime in the near future, someone or something will show us the way. I hope so.

 

Meanwhile, the roof of the Centre Street United Church needs to be repaired, St. Georges Anglican church needs the lawn cut in the summer and the snow shoveled in the winter, Precious Blood Catholic Church needs people to voluteer for the Tuesday games night to raise needed funds. Priests and ministers the world over need to find something to say in their Sunday sermon that has meaning in this troubled world of ours. Also, an aging, retired mailman needs to think that not only has his life been of value, but that it has meant something as well.

We are all waiting for God, but while we wait, we might just as well watch TV and play video games.