Eve is my 5-year-old great niece who has a very forthright, plainspoken way of getting to the truth of matters, and speaking wisdom beyond her years. Recently, she asked her parents, “Why would somebody not go to church on ‘church day?’ That’s just weird.”

Indeed. Right off you know this is a kid who is used to going to church. They apparently don’t get up on Sunday morning and debate the matter. Like someone else said who joined my church recently, she grew up in a home where “you always went to church. No question.” Later in life, Sue said she belonged to a church where, “if you had to miss on a Sunday morning, it was a real sacrifice.” You wanted to be there. Maybe some would think that’s weird.

However, I fear that Eve and Sue are a vanishing breed. When journalists quote polls on how many people reported attending religious services weekly in the U.S., 40 percent is a figure commonly used from reputable sources like Gallup and Barna Research Group, both of whom regularly study such things. But many feel that figure is high, given our penchant for answering poll questions according to what we think we ought to be doing, rather than what we are actually doing. Eve has a pretty good handle on that, too. She was heard saying: “I know what a ‘hippocrat’ is. It’s when someone thinks they’re so awesome and they want everyone to see them pray and think they’re awesome and they just say blah, blah, blah.”

Whatever you think about the accuracy of the above poll numbers, in Canada, about 20 percent report attending services. In Europe, only about 14 percent report going to church. Culturally, we are in an era which many call the post-Christian era.

I was talking with one of my daughters about how, when I grew up in the ‘50s, I was quite aware of the faith affiliation of most of my classmates (public school). Going to church on Sundays was a big and expected part of life in that small rural community; I would guess that 90 percent of my classmates went to church almost every Sunday. My daughter, who went to elementary school (also public school) in the ‘90s, said that she was mostly not aware of the faith affiliation of most of her classmates; sure, she knew her close friends’ beliefs and church affiliation, but discussions about faith, church attendance, etc., was mostly off the radar in her school setting. Our different memories reflect the cultural shift that occurred between the ‘50s and the ‘90s.

Of course, even avid churchgoers must admit there are times when uninspiring worship makes them wonder why they bother. Church is not there to entertain us, of course, but to inspire and, at least weekly, help us get in touch with the God of the universe - in glorious, heartfelt delight. I used a human comparison recently in calling a group to worship:

“Those of us who have adult children know how happy we are when our children choose to come home and visit us. I think it is a little like that with God, our heavenly parent. Sunday morning is the day and time we set aside to ‘come home’ and spend special time with God. I think God is happy and beams with pride and joy when we as God’s children come home and spend time around God’s feet with our fellow brothers and sisters. Let us worship God.”

Sunday apparently became the day Christians set aside to worship God in remembrance of the resurrection of Jesus on Easter. Our numbers may be fewer than a few years ago, but that makes worship all the more special: we attend not out of habit nor because “it’s what we always do,” but because we want to be with our heavenly parent in a special way, and share love and companionship. And that’s not weird. That’s love. Devotion. Commitment. That’s giving back to God the delight God finds in us.

What do you think? Share your feedback and send an email to melodied@thirdwaymedia.org

Melodie Davis is the author of nine books, most recently Whatever Happened to Dinner and has written Another Way since 1987. She is also the producer and co-host of the Shaping Families radio program, airing nationally.