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The last time I really went to church was back in April. It was back when my paternal grandmother had died and we all had to go. Before that, I do not remember when I went to church. It was probably during the start of the year.

I am a Protestant and I am a member of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP). I have been active in church back when I was in high school and in college. The only time that I started to stop going to church was when I got pregnant and rumors about me were flying about in the church. That was then that I decided that maybe if I found a good congregation, I would be back. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not about the church per se. I’m talking about the people.

Back when I was an active member of the Christian Youth Fellowship (CYF), the youth organization in our church, I had been through various positions. I had been a secretary, a vice president, and the president of our local church. Then in the South Bicol Christian Youth Fellowship (SBCYF), the youth organization of the South Bicol Conference, I had become the assistant secretary, and secretary. Someone wanted me to be president but I had to say no because I was already studying in UP that time and I could not really attend to the responsibilities that well. I then was made to be a member of the committees. That was fine by me.

I do miss those days. We had gone through tons of experiences and activities. It really felt good when you were able to reach out to some youth who were not active in church. And when you see them actively participating, the feeling is just different. I love being part of the choir, singing songs, playing the piano… I remember the feeling of just being inside the church and just feeling really peaceful despite whatever troubles I might have had.

I do know where my faith lies. And I do know what I believe in. It’s just that I do believe that there are certain ‘rituals’ that I just could do without. I think that faith is a matter of what you really believe in and just how do you practice that. I don’t think that because you do not do one thing that everybody does makes you a bad person. I think that worship is something that I can do personally. And I think that there are people who worship and yet do not know service.

Anyway, back to the title of this post: church-hopping. Well, I have been church-hopping. Back when I was still an active member, I have been able to go to various churches of the UCCP. And one thing that I had noticed was that I found peace easily in small churches. I do not know why but they just give me a different feeling from all those grand ones. The best worship that I had been to though was in the Church of the Risen Lord (CRL) in UP Diliman. CRL is a ecumenical church and I really liked it there.

I have also been church-hopping recently. One of my friends, a Catholic, has been tagging me along when she goes to various churches. We don’t stay for a whole service. She just lights a candle, says some prayers, and then we leave. And last Wednesday, we saw that the Our Lady of Fatima Church in Tahao Road was still open. When we dropped by, the Our Lady of Peñafrancia was there. The following day, we went to the St. Jude Church in Lapu-Lapu Street in Legazpi City and we found that the Our Lady of Peñafrancia was transferred there. Tonight, we dropped by the St. Raphael Church, and there she was. We have also been going to the chapel in Sto. Cristo in Daraga.

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