How do we do church?

How do we "do" church? How do we "do" Christianity?  These are questions I struggle with in a contemporary moment where a large number of community and social demands and opportunities offer potential for service, stewardship, and community building, outside of church on Sunday mornings.  This week, I missed Sunday service, and communion, to help plant the "healing garden" at CHEO.  An innovation by the CHEO Green Team led by Matt B., this garden is a wonderful space to contemplate and celebrate God's creation, where kids who are stuck in the hospital for long periods of time can enjoy respite and tranquility outdoors, and where kids and teens from the eating disorders clinic are taken to learn about good nutrition.  Vegetables from the garden are used in the hospital cafeteria's salads as well. 

So, this morning, I was planting seeds and seedlings, hands covered in soil and mulch, kneeling in the grass instead of sitting in a pew.  But it was a time and place to be grateful for, and steward, the natural world, and to serve the community.  I'm a committed and regular church attendee, but I do struggle, especially in spring and summer, with questions of where, in my life that is so full of work and family obligations, what activities and volunteer efforts best fit.  I'd be very interested in any comments about how and where we can "do" church inside or outside of sanctuary buildings.

Rebecca B.