Several years ago when I was a lot younger in my faith, lacking knowledge and understanding, I had an experience with another person of the same faith who apparently saw herself as better than me, at least this is how I interpreted it then.

There was a snowstorm, certainly not the worst storm to hit the East coast but definitely one of the worst storms that I have seen. The storm hit on a Saturday night. Sunday morning the snow was knee-high, it was windy, and the trains that ran outdoors on the elevated platforms were not running.  Needless to say, I didn’t make it to church service that Sunday morning.

At that time I was living in the Bronx and my church is in Brooklyn.  It’s a pretty long trek, especially because the trains run local on Sunday mornings before 9:00 am.  Church service started at 8:00.  We use to have three services during those days,  but my pastor decided to only have one service that day because he knew many of the congregants would not make it in but there are those who would show themselves to be Good Little Christians and push through to get that word. Bless their hearts.

The following Sunday I ran into my “sister in Christ”. She told me that she noticed that I wasn’t present the previous Sunday.  Interesting that she noticed that.  I proceeded to explain to her my traveling dilemma.  She then fixed her face and told me that if I really wanted to worship the Lord I would have made it to church. Wow!

I asked her how she made her way there since where she’s coming from presents just as much of a commuter challenge.  At that time she was living in Staten Island and it is no easy feat traveling from SI to BK, especially using mass transit.  Homegirl told me her boyfriend drove her in.  Again, wow!

This sister judged me for not accomplishing what she was able to accomplish in spite of the advantage she had.  She had someone to drive her through the snow in a warm, comfortable vehicle. She had a door-to-door service.  Her commute time was a mere fraction of what those of us traveling by train and/or bus had to endure. Yet she judged me.  There was no empathy, no compassion.  She saw herself as better, more righteous because she made it to church on a snowy day.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, although I was strong in my faith, I was quite weak in the knowledge area.  During that time, my mind was not on the Bible.  Although I love my God and my faith, I was not really interested at that time in reading the Bible, much less getting a clear understanding of the text.  It was not a priority.   Therefore, I wasn’t properly equipped to check her.  Now is a different story.

As I look back in retrospect, I realized that she didn’t have any more knowledge than I did.  I would dare say that she had minimal comprehension of what the Bible says because it says that God is to be praised at all times (Psalms 34: 1).  Jesus, while speaking to the woman at the well, said that we are to worship God “in spirit and in truth” no matter where we find ourselves.  I’m paraphrasing John 4: 21-24, of course.

This sister didn’t understand that you don’t go to church to worship God.  Since we are to worship Him at all times, the primary purpose for going to church is not to worship God, but to grow in community and to gain more knowledge and understanding of His word to be better equipped to navigate through our social and professional circles the other six days of the week.

I hope that she understands that now.  I’m glad I do.  I also hope that she or others who think like her, do not become a sore spot for believers who are growing in their faith.  It’s unfortunate that many people have chosen to not embrace the Christian faith because the narrow-minded and immature few.  We are all works in progress, which means that no one is more righteous than the next.