An Experience

So why do you go to church? 

We saw yesterday that when we're asked this question, many of us talk highly of the content of the church experience, but in a content-driven world where we carry little content devices in our pockets, content isn't what keeps us coming back. 

It's the experience. 

Think about it like this: we live in a world of content, and we also live in a world of streaming. Nearly anything you could want to see, media-wise, you can stream in the comfort of your own living room. You might have to wait a little longer than the big release, but it'll be there. But the experience of watching a movie in your living room is far different than watching it in a movie theater. 

We have tried to replicate this. We have created surround-sound systems and ginormous screens for our own homes so that we get the sensory-immersive experience of being in the theater - our eyes having to move back and forth across the screen to get the whole picture, our bodies feeling the vibrations of the sound. We turn the lights down so there are no distractions. We are even getting really good at homemade popcorn - "movie theater butter" flavor. 

We've nailed the "home experience." 

Except...we haven't. 

Because there's still something special about watching a movie in the theater. Ask the average person, and they can't explain it. They can't tell you why it's better. They might say it's the bigger screen or the audio system or the snacks, but that's only because they can't put their finger on it. 

The truth is...it's the shared experience. 

When we watch a movie in a movie theater, we have the added bonus of having the reactions of other human beings in the room. This encourages us to get in touch with our own experience in a new way. 

Something might strike you as funny in your living room, but when you hear a dozen other persons start to chuckle, the humor hits you in a different way. You can't let yourself get too caught up in the suspense of a moment in your own house, but there's safety in numbers, and if you're all caught up in the same suspense, there's just something different about it. When you see the person next to you reaching for a tissue at the most touching moment, it gives you a little bit more permission to cry. 

Watching a movie at home is a content experience; watching a movie in the theater is a human experience. 

And that's what the church is. That's why we go to church. 

We can sit at home and read the Bible and sing worship songs and pray all we want, but there's something about doing it together, about having other humans in the same room who are having human reactions to the content, who give us permission to also have human reactions to the content, who help us have a safe space to open our hearts to really be affected by things, who confirm what we're experiencing, who draw us deeper. Reading the Bible in your living room, turning on the radio, streaming the service is a content experience. 

But church...church is a human experience. 

And it's even better than that....