Resolve to exercise your spiritual life

Are you making resolutions? Here’s a suggestion: step up the exercise of your spiritual life. Your spiritual health is as important as your physical and mental health.

If you are not a member of a worshiping community, give one a try. For followers and seekers in the Abrahamic traditions, there are a lot of options. There are three Jewish communities worshiping in Fort Mill. There is not a mosque, but Rock Hill or Charlotte both have options for followers of Islam.

And Christian? This is the South – there are churches all over the place. Options include pipe organs to rock bands, traditional worship to high-tech extravaganzas. There are small communities where people all know each other and would love to get to know you, to big gatherings where you can remain anonymous.

Theologically, they vary from conservative to moderately progressive.

If you are a member of a congregation, consider stepping deeper into the water there.

If you just show up to worship once in awhile, go more often. If you go to worship but nothing else, find a place to participate and serve.

Some people say “I don’t get fed there,” when referring to a particular congregation. To that, I have three responses. The first is something I just learned from a friend, “If you don’t get fed, what did you bring to eat? The community of faith is about all of us bringing what we have and sharing it, like the story of the loaves and fishes.”

All of us have something to contribute, and it is usually the folks who aren’t contributing to the life of the community who don’t get anything out of it.

Go all in. Worship every Sunday. Participate in other activities. Typically the cycle goes like this: people don’t participate in meaningful ways, then feel less connected, then come less often, then feel even more disconnected, then decide that there is something wrong with the church, because they are not getting anything out of it. Reverse that cycle. Bring something to the table, then join the feast.

And note: no one gives so much money that they don’t need to volunteer, and no one volunteers enough time that they don’t need to give money. Your community needs both your money and your time, but more importantly, YOU need to be a good steward of both, sharing some of both with your faith community. It’s good for your soul.

Second, it is not about you. We gather to worship, which is something that you do, not that you watch. And we gather to serve, which again is about bringing ourselves to something bigger than we are. If we are there to get something, we’re not there to worship and serve.

Third, if you have gone all in, brought all that you have to the worship and service, and it is not the right place for you, go someplace else. But don’t blame the church or congregation, and don’t slink away or just quit going. Be a grownup. Talk with the pastor or leader, and ask them to help you find a place that is a better fit for you.

Grow. Reach out. Serve. You will be better for it.

This story was originally published December 25, 2015 at 4:22 PM with the headline "Resolve to exercise your spiritual life."