My grandfather’s funeral service last week was at the church he had attended for many years, the same church that I was forced, in my younger years, to attend on holidays and other random occasions. I had not been to this church in a number of years (I think my last visit was for another funeral), and while it was mostly the same, I noticed a few key differences.

The church has web cams, and they appear to be pretty expensive ones. They have tens of thousands of dollars worth of A/V equipment. They have a full set of band equipment (guitar, drums, etc). All of this, somehow, makes a church “better”, apparently. Keep dropping those donations in the basket; Jesus needs us to have another wireless microphone.

The funeral “sermon” felt like any other Sunday sermon. It should have been a celebration of a wonderful life, a remembrance of someone dear to us all. Instead it was a fucking recruitment speech. Sure, some nice words were said about my grandfather, but the focus seemed to be more on how we should all be finding Jesus so that we can have eternal life. This was spewed at us constantly, and I just stopped listening half way through. If I’m going to be lectured at about how I need to accept the “correct” religion instead of saying anything kind about the recently departed, then I’m just going to tune out.

I loathe the church. I abhor it. I can’t describe the disdain I felt as I sat there being told to believe in a magic book while all I really wanted was someone to help us remember the life and times of a dear relative. If I were a Christian, I’d be ashamed.