Yesterday I wrote a post on why I go to church and asked you to reflect on the same. I said, in sum, that I go because the good news of God’s abundant and abiding love of all of us is difficult to hold on to and believe in the face of a difficult and challenging life for more than about seven days in a row. I said, in short, that by week’s end I am desperate for another chance to hear the almost-too-good-to-be-true news of God’s love and grace. And then I referenced a video of portions of a sermon from Pope Francis in which he talks about a similar sense of desperation, but from the point of view of the sinner’s need to receive...

I’ve asked this question at least once in a sermon in every church I’ve served. Why do we go to Church? I think it’s an incredibly important question right now because there are, quite frankly, so many other options on a Sunday morning – far more than when I was a kid and multiples more than when my parents were children. Consider: you might want instead to sleep in, or catch up on some work, or go shopping, or meet a friend for coffee at Starbucks, or run through some email, or read the paper (online or the old paper and ink variety), or go to your kid’s soccer match or hockey game, or see what you missed this week on your...