Do you experience days as a series of random incidents and accidents? Theologian Henry Nouwen says that his days can easily fall into this pattern. To counter this senselessness, he drags himself out of bed every morning at 6:45 to go to an hour of prayer at a small convent of the Carmelite Sisters. He describes his experience this way, “It is not an hour of deep prayer, nor a time which I experience a special closeness to God; it is not a period of serious attentiveness to the divine mysteries. I wish it were! On the contrary, it is full of distractions, inner restlessness, sleepiness, confusion, and boredom. It seldom, if ever, pleases my senses. But the simple fact of being for one hour in the presence of the Lord and of showing him all that I felt, think, sense and experience, without trying to hide anything must please him” (From ¡Gracias! By Henri Nouwen).

This makes me think of going to church. I don’t always get much out of worship. Sometimes I experience worship as an empty ritual where I just go through the motions: stand up, sit down, and so forth. I am also not a proponent of church on Sunday at 11:00. It frustrates me to have church from 11- 12:30. By the time the service starts my breakfast has worn off, and my stomach starts to growl and rumble. My mind begins to wander on things that await me Monday morning, and I grow sad that the weekend is almost over. Although the service officially ends just after the noon hour, afterwards my time is spent talking to people and waiting in line for lunch. By the time the Sunday ritual is complete, the day is almost over. Sunday doesn’t always feel like a Sabbath.

Almost every week on the way to church, my husband and I will pass a car, truck, or jeep with a canoe or kayak strapped on top. It has become an almost comical occurrence. We long to turn our car around and follow them on their adventure, but instead we go on our way to begin our weekly Sunday ritual.

I know people that would not miss church for anything; even while on vacation they will find a church to attend nearby. I am not one of those people. I do not believe that attending a church service every week is required to be a Christian. But I will admit if I skip church for a few weeks, I begin to sense something not right within me. I feel empty and ungrounded. What is it about that time?

I appreciate Henri Nouwen’s honesty about his experience in worship. I think we all, at some level, can relate to what he is saying. His words remind me that something happens in me when I take the time to plant myself in the space of worship. I might not be aware of the strange power that works in and around me, but it does not mean that it isn’t there. It is not always about the prayer spoken or the sermon preached; rather, it is about being in the presence of the divine. It is allocating holy time in our otherwise cluttered lives.

Each Thursday a chapel service is offered from 2:00-2:35 for all on the Reinhardt campus. Although I hope those who attend enjoy the service, chapel is not about the music and the preaching. It is about holy time to encounter God. It is easy to let this half an hour slip by, but what a blessing it can be to let God intersect our lives.