The most segregated hour of the week

If you're a Christian, you've been hearing this old saw most of your life: "The most segregated hour of the week is on Sunday morning during church services," or some similar paraphrase. Well, praise the Lord, I say. I don't mind at all driving past a thriving, lively black Baptist church, or a Roman Catholic cathedral on my way to my not-so-much-so Lutheran church (although to do that I'd have to be going to our Hilltop location, not the Upper Arlington location. We don't ask Korean Americans or Hungarian Americans to stop singing the hymns they love, but it's just not cool these days to say you really don't enjoy an ear deafening service with worshipers wearing nose studs, muscle shirts and tattoos. But if you look like me, well, all's fair--or not so fair in the sense of skin color, because if your congregation is lily white or all black, well, shame on you!

I love a liturgical service, some Bach at the organ, repeating the creeds Christians have said together for a thousand years (several for variety depending on the season, not just the Apostles'), listening to the choir, and an inspiring sermon with a good Gospel message. If what matters to you is how high your heart rate can go, or how much your head can throb from the noise, or a sermon on political candidates or a saint's miracles, let's agree to worship separately.

There are plenty of service opportunities for us to work together to build the Kingdom of God on earth the other hours of the week.