Too long or short?

I've always wondered why people complain when a service in church spans for too long. It has always puzzled me Everytime I hear my friends say that they can never attend a church service that spans more that 2hours.

I even heard someone ask with so much annoyance in his voice, what kind of message a pastor would preach for 1 hour plus. He even added that he was sure half of the members were asleep 30 mins into the message.

Somehow, I think he has a point cos whenever anything spans for too long, it begins to become boring but that doesn't mean that I entirely agree with him.

Ever since I was a child, I have always attended a four hour service and at the end of church we would still be happy that service ended early. On very bad days, we would spend 5 hours plus. I call it bad days because at that point my stomach is already screaming for food and the remaining parts of my body are already showing signs of weakness from having eaten nothing all day.

The hunger was and still is a constant thing every Sunday in my house all thanks to mum, who never allows us have breakfast (until something happened), because she says going to church on Sundays in a fast activates your blessings more or so to speak.

I can't forget the day I almost fainted in church because I had not eaten and I was losing strength after singing in the choir. I had to come out with my last strength and sit outside with my choir robe and my scared mum running up and down to get me an energy drink.

You might laugh at it right now but then it wasn't funny because she was very scared and surprised cos I was so healthy when we left home and she couldn't understand what had happened in the short time.

My sister couldn't stop thanking me for that incident because ever since then, not eating to church became optional and not as compulsory as before because my mum doesn't want history to repeat itself. She now made sure there were light foods like just tea and bread or pap to eat every morning because according to her, rice and other foods are too heavy and one cannot dance or sing freely. You don't have to say it, I know I have a wonderful Mum.

Going back to church services, I attended a church with a friend one time by 6:30am and they closed their first service at 7:45am. When we got home, I began to feel like I didn't attend church for the day cos it felt so odd and I just wasn't satisfied.

Before I could get to enjoy praise and worship, it was all over. Just when I started enjoying the message and it started making sense, the pastor was done and before you know I was already on my way home.

I might seem weird but I do not like services that are so short. I should be able to dance to my heart's content and feel like I have had enough instead of it stopping just when I was about to get my groove on.

What's worse is that there is hardly any church that doesn't do this short service thing and even if they exist, they are not liked by many. Do I get offended sometimes when service is extra long yes, but would I trade it for a short one? Definitely no.

I guess the bottom line is to attend the service that sits well with you and serve your God.

Author's Epilogue

The morning today was cold and it rained. I was curled up in my bed when my mom came to wake me and I didn't like it at all. The rain was still on when I got to church but it was no longer heavy.

The service was nice and somewhat funny at least to me. The bible truly said that there's fullness of joy in the house of God.

Do let me know which service schedule sits better with you, long or short?

Thanks for reading and happy Sunday!

Mhizutty the voice of truth🎵🎶🎵