Sunday 23 January 2011

To endure or not

Ethan has recently started singing with the church choir and today, for the first time, he sang during a service.

He's joined the choir because I saw they were recruiting and I asked Ethan whether he was interested, and he was.

So I dropped him off for pre-service practise and picked him up after the service.

The Director of Music said I should have joined everyone whilst someone else noted that they "didn't normally see me at the church."

I winced. You see I don't enjoy going to church and never have.

As a child I remember the village vicar detesting children. We were clearly an inconvenience.

And then of course the state educated me and gave me the tools to evaluate religions, and so I did. My conclusions made me uncomfortable in church situations.

I don't mind the singing, although I find hymns difficult with my limited range and "poor ear." It's all the other stuff I don't enjoy. I feel very hypocritical saying things I don't believe and, for that reason, I try and avoid such situations.

But my boy is in the choir. Should I endure discomfort and support him from the congregation or should I treat it like his gymnastics class and drop him off and pick him up and support by praising achievements?

I've clearly opted for the latter, but am I right?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

you are *definitely* right

The Ample Cook said...

Don't be pressured into attending and DON'T feel guilty.