THE RELEVANCE OF CHURCH IN TODAY’S GENERATION

by LJ N. Famatigan
We live in a busy world. We live in a busy world where time means everything, where
every second counts. Tasks to accomplish, priorities to attend, quotas to meet. Since when did we
really have time? Since when did we really have time to make time? We are always in a hurry,
afraid in running late, being behind everything.
And as much as how we are conscious of our time, we might be missing things which are
much more significant than those we thought were worthy of our time. How can we make a
millisecond, a second, a minute, an hour worthy? The answer is quite simple, it is spending it with
Him. And eventually those trivial determiners of time would be a lifetime of satisfaction and inner
peace.
Long before the influence of Catholicism in the country, we had our own beliefs and
traditions with regard to treating of what we considered as sacred with reverence. It was in our
nature to create our own image of a superior being and eventually praise them. It was in our nature
to have something to believe in. To have something to be feared. To have something to be followed.
Because that, in exclusion to all gives us the security of belongingness to the society and more
importantly to the world we reside in.
And with the arrival of a new version of faith, of a new version of belief, due to our nature
have followed the morals inclined to it. We were taught to follow the church, to follow its teachings
and without us realizing, we are gradually making our own set of standards of what is morally
accepted. As we go along with it, we haven’t really understand its true essence and meaning
especially our generation. A generation built within emergence of technology, liberal standards
and deteriorating culture. It is our generation composed of millennial. The word accompanies
certain characteristics as being tech-savy, party-goer, liberal and open.
As a millennial, we are immersed with trends that most of us are trying to be part of.
Engaging in social activities such as concerts and fan-meeting events. Getting in line to get the
latest model of phones or gadgets to brag about. Going out for parties and arriving home late.
Getting drunk and hang-over the day after. Staying up late to watch some series. Those are just
some of the usual activities of the people nowadays.
But look more closely. While the MOA Arena is flooding with people, look at those
churches with a lot of vacant seats. While people get all excited and spend their money for fan-
meeting events, look at those churches where the priest has no one to greet. While the people get
crazy on lines on who’s going to get the latest gadget first, look at those churches who barely had
someone to line up for the communion. While the people who go out for parties ended up coming
home late and never spare a second to visit church.
While people get drunk of alcohol instead of getting drunk with faith. While people stay
up late to watch some series and ended up forgetting praying. Do we still lack the time? Is time
still the issue? Or maybe it is just us. We are not just that committed. We are not just aware of the
essence of waking up early, dressing up for church instead of dates, and just listening not to any
music trend but listening to the word of God. We had forgotten the true meaning of faith. We had
been pretending to do what the society had told us to do. We had been pretending to exercise faith
without understanding what does it really mean. We have been following the teachings without
actually putting it beyond our minds, without actually embarking it on our hearts. It is time to wake
up. Stop pretending and start reflecting.
We should attend church just as how we attend on parties. We should be on time just as
how we are on time when it comes to concerts. We should be excited just as how we are excited
on fan-meetings but this time it would be God-meeting. We should listen to every word that the
priest says just as how we listen on every line of our favourite music.
We should spend an hour focused on the whole mass just as how we spend an hour
watching an episode of our beloved series. We should talk to Him just as how we talk to our loved
ones. We should hold a connection with God just as how we hold our phones. And we should cry
to Him instead of bursting our frustration out on alcoholic beverages. Turning those things that us,
millennially usually do might make faith somehow more engaging than a responsibility.
Yes, we live on a busy world but time isn’t everything. It’s how we spend it. It’s how we
make it worthwhile may it be long or fleeting. We have different clocks, borrowed time from Him
He didn’t ask for all of our time, he was just asking for “some” time. Because when it all ends,
we’ll just end up running to Him too and he’ll welcome us with open arms even if we didn’t
manage to embrace Him because we were all too busy measuring our time and counting up our
days. It is now the time to make those days count and not live a day with regret by spending it with
someone who never left us, God.