About that last blog entry

I failed to mention some of the reasons for declining attendance at our local churches, so I'll just stop what I'm doing and address that.

First of all, Wellington is a small town, yet sort of a bedroom community for people who work in Kansas City.  The town is holding its own as far as population:  I wrote a song years ago about Wellington, and one line said, ''Seven hundred eighty people, every one my friend".  I know that number hasn't increased by much, and I think I wrote the song in 1980.

Wellington is a farming community with a high population of people of German heritage, which is why the church in town with the highest attendance is St. Luke's.  It used to be a UCC (United Church of Christ, not to be confused with the Church of Christ I was raised in).  The church pulled out of the UCC years ago, and now they are an Evangelical Free congregation.  The old German families still attend.  However, as the younger generation grows up, goes to college, and graduates, there's not room for all of them on the farms.  They find jobs elsewhere, often in a large city and out of the state.  

By the way, St. Luke's church has a fascinating history:  As I understand it, up until World War I, the services were in the German language.

Another factor in the decline in attendance at local churches is that people with young children and teenagers desire programs that include the kids, something to hopefully keep them interested in attending church throughout their lives.  The small churches just can't offer that.  

A Catholic friend, in a comment she must have deleted, asked me where the Catholic Church is around here.  Well, I honestly have to say that while I love my Catholic friends, it would be difficult for me to make such a huge change.  Although if a Catholic Church were the only one I could attend, I'd go there, I suppose.  Our town has never had a Catholic Church, but there's one in Lexington, ten miles away, and one in Odessa.  Cliff and I know where all the Catholic Churches are because we enjoy their Lenten fish fries. 

Lent is another thing I was never familiar with, by the way.  Also the Apostle's Creed, although I've almost learned it from the church I was attending before, and the Methodist church I attend now. 

Another friend commented that she doesn't think too much about heaven and hell.  Neither do I.  I am just trying to be a better person now that I'm older.  For me, that's never easy, but I know that's what I'm supposed to do, and I feel better about myself if I make an effort.  One of the sermons last Sunday was on honest prayer.  As I was thinking about the subject of prayer the next morning, I realized there are a few people who present me with a problem when I pray.  I'm supposed to be praying for the people I don't like instead of pretending they don't exist, because that's what we're supposed to do.   I imagine God got a laugh out of me trying to figure out how on earth I can pray for them!  After some false starts, I realized I have been in the habit of telling God how He should fix these people.  I also realized I had a part in all these relationships going sour, and that it probably wouldn't do me any harm to think back on the times I could have kept my mouth shut so I'd be able to change MY behavior.  I did come out of that little session amazed that my feelings about these three people had changed as I looked at them from a different perspective.  That's the big thing about prayer:  If it changes nothing else, it will change you. 

Another thing:  I don't get on my knees and pray some long drawn-out prayer.  I talk to God when I have something to say, just like I do Cliff.  I might be taking a walk or washing dishes, but those are the times I pray.  I do a lot of thanking God, especially early mornings.  

But who cares about my prayer life?  I just wanted my readers to know all the reasons why the churches have such small attendance.  The number one reason, of course, is that people aren't believers, or else like Cliff, never went to church and have no reason to start now.  

When I was a kid in north Missouri, neighbors were more important to one another.  On Sunday nights the adults would hang around inside the church or just outside the front door, smoking, and catch up on local news.  Farmers would talk about their crops and compare notes on how their livestock was doing.  I wouldn't be surprised to find out that even the atheists went to church back then, just to hear the local buzz.  An elderly lady named Patty who sits behind me at the Methodist Church, said her grandmother and mother both used to attend that church.  She said years ago there were three grocery stores in town, and most of the local merchants attended that Church.  Now there are no stores in Wellington.  The bank and the old hardware store are gone, as is Virgil's barber shop.  We had a mini-mart at the city limits but this year's flood damage caused it to close.  So now you can't even buy a quart of milk without going to Lexington or Odessa.

Changes happen.  Younger folks welcome it, old folks reminisce about the old days as a method of coping.

And if any of my several atheist friends are reading this, they're thinking, "I'll be glad when she gets off this religious kick."  

Don't worry.  I think I'm done with this subject.  

Yours sincerely,
Donna