Reply #53: I was a preacher's kid (Lutheran), but church was just our way of life

[Lydia Leftcoast]

It is when it's your dad's job. Our family year was the church year, beginning with Advent candle lighting at dinner.

It never felt any more forced to me than milking cows or collecting eggs is to a farmer's child.

As I grew older, I rethought my views several times, but as a member of a mainstream church (first ELCA Lutheran, then Episcopalian), I felt free to do that. Now I take much of the "hard to believe" stuff as allegory, and I value my association with the church for the opportunity it presents to get in touch with the divine, for the beauty of the worship service and music, for the opportunity to join forces with like-minded people to help others, and for the sense of community.