ME, You and Church, Part 3. Calorius weighs in

I get very despondent and discouraged sometimes. So does my wife. It is very hard to find a church that's right. It's not that we are looking for a perfect church. We agree to make sacrifices...we've tried giving up on the music we like, or the demographics we like, or the type of liturgy we like, or the type of sermon or even theology we like so long as, we hope, the core Christianity is there. But we keep getting disappointed there too. Right now the church we go to doesn't really satisfy us, but we are staying because there is no where else to go.

Sometimes I think about starting a church of my own, just like my former classmate did. But what are we looking for?

I learned recently why some people like one type of music and other people a different kind. Someone studied it and came to the conclusion that most people like the music which they first enjoyed when they were about 18-20. So I like Andrae Crouch and Evie Tornquist and the Imperials and also the Commodores, Classic Highlife, Bob Marley, Gilbert and Sullivan, and Jimmy Smith and the Anglican Hymnal. Those songs take me back, and that type of music is, well, music to my ears. And I'm surprised when others don't like it or like something else.

I found this to be very true recently when I visited Gaius in Columbus. He has an extensive music collection, but it has expanded out of music he has always liked, and my own extensive collection has grown out of music I always liked. Could it be that we like church service of a certain kind only because that was the form that we first loved at a certain age? Are we not judging other Christians too harshly just because they don't share our taste in music or form of worship?

When I don't like a certain church and I am yearning for a different experience, how much of that is just because of my own taste has been conditioned by my past experiences? And, should I try to find one that fits me or try to condition myself to enjoy what now exists? My best option is to stay where I am and to influence it to become what I like. I am not starting any new church anywhere. I cannot sing, act, preach or lead. Maybe I could write, but nowadays people don't read much - Calorius