Practicing Our Emotions

The Church is in the Emotion Business (so to speak)

Faith and religion are all about emotion.

You might not know it to sit through a Sunday worship service.

In some ways, the church has stripped emotion from its agenda. Church services are designed for corporate expression. The people are like marmots, responding in tandem.

An emphasis on ritual tends to do this.

A seasoned pastor once shared his experience working with a seminary intern.

Several weeks after the intern arrived, the pastor went over the worship service the intern had just led. The pastor asked him what he noticed about the congregation. The intern responded with a list of demographics. He described the age, race and gender of the people sitting in the pew.

The pastor kept quizzing the intern, but he couldn’t get him to see beyond the demographics.

Finally, he gave up. Didn’t you notice the woman crying? She was sitting on the right near the window. This is the anniversary of her husband’s death.

Didn’t you notice the man sitting by himself near the back on the left side of the church. His wife and children were sitting a few pews away on the right. Did you notice how the children were turning toward him while the mother stared straight ahead? Couldn’t you feel the tension when you shared the body of Christ with them at the communion rail? You’ve been here long enough to know them. The parents have separated. The children are torn. The whole family is in pain.

This seasoned pastor saw the worship service as a drama. During the week, he would respond to pain he witnessed on Sunday morning. The intern saw the worship service as a performance. Now he could go home and rest.

This approach to worship isn’t limited to interns. Some pastors never reach beyond it.

People are attracted to church and faith because of emotion.

People go to church to make sense of things in their lives that are beyond their control. They know the difference between how they are supposed to feel and how they actually feel. They want someone to notice.

The church tries to attract them with facts. Knowledge of the Bible. Doctrine. An accounting of good deeds. Great programs.

But it is emotion that draws people into life together as Christians.

With emotion comes a certain amount of chaos and a great deal of discomfort. But that’s our job. If we try to avoid it by relegating problems to committees, etc. we are failing in mission. Our reason for existing is gone. We haven’t loved our neighbors. We haven’t reached out to the world.

Church members should never be treated as robots.

There is a tendency to relegate church members into robotic emotional behavior. It is Lent. You will be sorrowful and repent. It is Easter. You will be joyful. It is Christmas. You will feel warm and cozy.

Be prepared to table your individual feelings and join in the prescribed emotion of the day.

  • If you came feeling cheated.
  • If you came feeling used.
  • If you came feeling guilty.
  • If you came in anger.
  • If you came feeling unworthy.
  • If you came feeling desperate.
  • If you came in loss or grief.
  • If you came looking for courage.
  • If you came looking for justice.
  • If you wanted peace and comfort.
  • If you came with a need to shout for joy.
  • If you wanted to feel hope.

You might find it—if you hit the right Sunday and have leaders who actually can see the drama playing out in the sanctuaries.

Otherwise, join the crowd.

Maybe this is why people find other things to do on Sunday morning.