churches can be lonely places...

The church has been on my mind a lot lately, and I don't mean just one particular church but the entire body of Christ, the Church.  I think a lot about the functions and purpose of the Church in my life and how I have basically wandered about for years and years.  I guess you could say I left Egypt and wandered across Jordan only to be wandering around in the wilderness.  It's time I left the wilderness for good.  For those of you not Christians, it's hard to even explain what I'm saying except to say that I'm really itching to have a church to really get involved with and to grow. 

We visited a new church on Sunday, and I enjoyed it immensely.  The pastor certainly has a heart for song and worship and is a great speaker.  More than that, the people were sincere and friendly.  I have NEVER been one to want to raise my hand should a pastor ask for first time visitors to raise their hands and be recognized.  There I was raising my hand.  AND I didn't get hives.

I'm hopeful, to say the least, but have some other leads if this one doesn't work out.

clarification

I wanted to clarify myself on an earlier post about churches. I realize that a person should go to church because they love God, etc... BUT there is also a mandate of fellowship with other Christians. How can you fellowship when you are not a part of the group? It's hard to fit in where I am going right now. There are two particular couples that I have noticed there. I'm thinking one of them probably feels like me. They seem new as well. The other couple I've met twice, yet if I walk by them since, there's not a hello or anything. I really think that God is trying to tell me to move on. I wish I knew of a church that believed like me AND was fairly close to me. And not too large. And FRIENDLY.

thoughts...

A church's role in the community should be to reach out and make their community better.  The congregation should be made of people that genuinely want to reach out to others.  I'm finding that it's hard to find that in close proximity to where I live.  The church we attend is nice, but there's something missing.  It's missing the warmth of genuinely wanting to reach out and remember me the next time.  It's missing order.  I'm a little bummed about it but it may be that the pastor I grew up with really knows how to run a church and no one will ever compare.

I feel nervous to ever leave Lucas in their nursery because when I was there last time, the lady keeping the nursery asked someone she didn't even know to watch the child that was already there as she led another adult to show her where the bathrooms were across the building.  Red flag on top of red flag.

Not only that, the couples my age don't reach out to new people.  It's way too cliquey for me, I think.  And, I'm sad about that.