Just venting...

Why do Monday mornings always seem depressing to me? I think it's because I so enjoy having Nate around on Sundays, and then his absence seems more stark on Monday. And I hate mornings. If I had one of those things on my blog that showed what mood I am in today, it would say "GRUMPY." Not that I have ANY reason to be grumpy. I am extraordinarily blessed, secure and have every reason to be happy. I'm just...well, I'm just feeling grumpy. We went to a differant church last night. Nate best friend's parents were visiting their son, and his dad was preaching at his church. Nate stayed with them for a little while during college, and wanted to see them while they were down here. I had met them before while we lived in Pensacola, but I had never heard the man preach before. He is a very nice man, but I had quite a few theological bones to pick with him. Not that I did, of course, that's not my place, but just being in that church gets me halfway to a panic attack, the atmosphere is soooo judgemental and self-righteous. I think that put me in a bad mood right off the bat. I would not have chosen to go there of my own volition, I was only going because that's the only day of the week that we get to be together as a family, and I didn't want to miss that opportunity to be with Nathan, since he was going with or without us. Maybe it's because I am from the North, where it's rare to hear "Amen" in a church service regardless, (not that that is how it should be) but being in a church atmosphere where you hear it constantly just seems a little contrived. The whole "independant, fundamental, baptist church in the south" thing has always bothered me slightly. I think I would agree with them on doctrine, it's just the surface stuff that gets to me, and in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter a bit, but this is my blog, and I already said I was grumpy, so I am just going to complain for awhile. It really seems like a pastor that the church liked could get up in the pulpit and say just about anything, and they would "Amen," and "Preach it, Brother" to the hilt. It just seems distracting to me. I don't go to church to hear catcalls, and it just seems so routine, like, it doesn't matter what's being said, that's just what you do in church. I can just see their little wheels turning "Okay, six words have come out of the pastor's mouth, time to say Amen....okay, now ten more, time for the Preach it!...alright, and now he's slammed his Bible down on the pulpit, so that calls for an Amen! with my hands waving...okay, a few more words, time for an Amen! with clapping, and maybe a Hallelujah!" So that just gets on my nerves. I have a hard time concentrating on what the pastor is actually saying when people all over the auditorium are talking at the same time. And I think the pastor plays his role just to get that sort of response. You know that man last night spent half of his "sermon" just talking about how wonderful "independant, fundamental, baptist churches" are. While I am critiquing, does it raise a red flag in anyones else's mind when you hear a preacher say "And don't you wait until you feel like 'God has called you' to do something, if your preacher tells you to do it, you do it!" HELLO?!?!?! What happened to the individual priesthood of the believer? What happened to the Holy Spirit in every Christian? What happened to Christian liberty? What happened to common sense?!? I think that bothered me more than anything else he said, but what really got me was the amount of Amens and apparent agreement from the congregation that this was gospel truth. It just gave me chills. Anyway, I am just so thankful for our church. Not that it's perfect, no human institution ever could be, but one of the things that really attracted Nate and I to our church was the pastor's humble conveyance of his belief that it's not his job to be the Holy Spirit, and that we are all personally responsible before God for our lives. Of couse, it is tha pastor's role to lead and to set an example, and to confront sin in a Biblical manner when he sees it in his flock, but it's a dangerous place to put yourself in to try to take the place of God in someone's life. Well, enough venting there. I hope everyone else's Monday morning is going along less grumpily than mine. Hey, it's almost noon, though, it's almost over!!