At the request of a friend, my family and I decided to check out a local church that is popular in the area. We went, and we dropped our kids off for Sunday School in a nicely painted room where they played video games for the next hour. My wife and I went to a class where there was a speaker on tape to present the materials.
We went on to church, and the children stayed in "children's church", the youngest two in the nursery. The people were nice enough, but the entire sermon focused on obtaining money, and, rather than a prayer before the offering, there was a nicely recited chant "trusting God for" a number of things, all of which revolved around the acquisition of material goods.
I wasn't happy with it, as so much of scripture revolves around the idea of not being able to serve both God and Mammon, and much of Jesus' teachings go on to seem to indicate that the pursuit of financial wealth is not the proper set of priorities for a Christian. But I'm increasingly beginning to suspect that that's my own bias guiding that, rather than common sense. The fact is, THEIR lives are working, mine is not. I didn't mind being underemployed when I moved here, now I'm just plain sick of it. There are no factory jobs to be had, and the local nonprofits dealing with developmentally disabled operate on a VERY strict affirmative action program; your application is scored on points, with your race and gender being serious multipliers. As a white male, that pretty much means that, unless I'm the only applicant, I'm not getting the job. That pretty much eliminates most of my work experience being relevant to the available work in our area, and I really don't think I'm PHYSICALLY able to stand up to 40+ hours a week in the hot summer sun all year round.
The fact is, the only way to get so many jobs anymore is to somehow network with the people that have the jobs to offer. The only way to do that around here is to go to the same churches, civic clubs, etc, as those individuals.
Every fiber of my being despises the thought of using church to network to improve our financial situation. But ideals don't put food on the table; they don't pay the bills. And with the cost of gasoline rising at an insane rate, it's unlikely I'll be able to continue supporting my family as a "media distribution specialist". And working at McDonald's is a less practical option, not to mention an unappetizing one (literally and figuratively).
So, I'll probably keep going to this church. These guys are successful at one thing: making money. And they'd be the right people to know. But I can't overcome the fact that this is NOT what I would rather be doing.