A couple weeks ago, I did something I try to do at least once a month: I went to the church I’m a member of in person instead of online.

Growing up, church was a regular part of my life, and not just on Sundays. My father is a pastor, so it was common to spend a weekday evening doing my homework in my dad’s office, music from choir rehearsal pouring in as I finished whatever worksheet was due the next day. It’s an institution that shaped me: It’s where I made a lot of friends, it gave me my first taste of public speaking, and since pastors in my denomination are moved from church to church, it also determined what city I lived in and where I went to school.

When I was a kid, attendance was obviously less in my control. If I didn’t go to church on Sunday, that meant no hanging with friends the following week. “If you can’t make time for the Lord, how can you make time for something else?” was my mother’s refrain.

The choice is mine now. I enjoy hearing the songs that were the soundtrack for so much of my childhood. I like saying hello to the people I see week after week. I like the Black liberation theology interpretation........

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