OK, this is a practical church question, not a religious debate question.
I decided awhile ago that I wanted to start going to church. Our preference is Episcopalian but we would also try Lutheran.
We live way out in the middle of nowhere. We're about 45 minutes away from two different cities that both offer a variety of churches, including Episcopalian. We are also about 15 minutes away from a rural town with a Lutheran church. This town is more blue-collar, farmers and factory workers etc. We're about 20 minutes away from another small-town Lutheran church, but this small town is wealthier because most of the residents work in one of the larger cities.
First of all, I'm nervous about going to church at all, and since we don't know anyone at any of these churches, I'm also nervous about walking in some place and feeling like a gate-crasher.
Second, I don't know where we should go. (Going to a church that is not Episcopalian/Lutheran isn't an option, and we'll just leave it at that.) I would really like to go to a church that's close, particularly if we get more involved than just the Sunday service.
And I am trying to find a way to say this without sounding like a horrible snob, but ... I live in Iowa and have been raised in strictly metropolitan areas. I'm a quiet little liberal book geek. When you get into these rural Iowa farm communities, I don't fit in. My husband comes from a place like this and every time we go back to visit I spend the whole time biting my tongue. Part of why I want to go to church is for the social aspect, and how can you make friends with someone when you're too busy gnawing on your tongue to talk?
I know that logically I should just start out at one place and if I don't like it then move on to another, but it seems sort of distasteful to go "church-shopping" and I'm not so sure I could do that unless I really hated the people in the church -- because of course you also think, well, I'm at church for spiritual reasons, not to make friends.
Anyway, I guess I'm probably worked up for no reason, but would like some advice anyway.
Thanks for listening...
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jen
"It's one of the most serious things that can possibly happen to one in a battle -- to get one's head cut off." -- LC
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