The God Workout: Why Gyms and Hymns are Suffering The Same Fate

Gabriel Garnica

Christ warned us that following Him is heavy lifting, but that the ultimate prize of eternal salvation is worth the effort. Apparently, fewer and fewer people want to do heavy lifting, either in church or at the gym because, in case you have not noticed, gyms and churches suffer from the same problem of missing “members”.

According to general statistics, somewhere between 67% to 80%  of people who sign up for gym memberships end up never going regularly, if at all. Likewise, statistics tell us that similar percentages of Catholics do not attend Mass regularly, if they go at all.  Just as loads of people show up in gyms around New Year’s eager and ready to trim and shape up their physical body, only to slack off and disappear the rest of the year, so too, loads of Catholics slide into the pews on Easter Sunday, only to slack off and disappear for the rest of the year as well.

Why do people drag themselves to gyms and churches on a few occasions a year, only to magnify their apathy by not bothering to return?  My contention is that, in both cases, there are actually four types of reasons behind this tragic pattern.

The Flash in The Pan

Some people sincerely feel, deep down inside somewhere, that their physical and moral lives need shaping up. They work up the courage and drive to “sign up” for this shaping up by showing up at their local gym or church. However, their motivation to follow through is simply not there. They want the quick fix, the easy ride, or the notion of taking charge more than the long-term, persistent, and blood and sweat reality of following through on their initial drive.

Physical and moral health is not a television sitcom or glitzy pill ad, where problems melt away without ups and downs. If Christ showed us anything, it is that following His example is not for the squeamish, lazy, or inconsistent.  This society, however, with its video game and digital mentality, has turned instant results and quick solutions into a religion itself, leaving patient persistence, integrity, personal responsibility, and proactive determination in the dust.

The Virtual Member

Some people like being a “member” of a gym or parish as a social feather in the cap or as some flimsy token of connection and involvement, but, when push comes to shove, they are more interested in the title “member” than the requirements and demands of membership.  After all, it is so much easier to reap the benefits of virtual, make-believe membership than to toil through the rigors of real, day-to-day membership, isn’t it?

The Selfie Sculptor

Many people approach the church or gym with the notion of re-shaping, re-defining, or re-inventing themselves, but only on their terms and convenience. They do not so much want to become better as to become better in their world. Thus, I want to lose weight, but without having to follow tedious exercises or diets.  Therefore, I want to improve my prayer life or get closer to God, but without having to being told by anyone what or how to pray or how to bring God more into my life.

You should not tell me what I can and can’t eat any more than you should tell me how to confess my sins, or when I should not partake of the Eucharist.  I want to shape my life my way, without a set of rules, menus, or recipes by others.

The Dabbling Buffet Consumer

Finally, there are those people who see physical and moral health as a cute hobby, a silly hors d’oeuvre to be snatched up as a curiosity when the mood is right. They see physical and spiritual activity as a superficial buffet where one picks and chooses on whim, selectively ignoring the unpleasant, uncomfortable, or basically anything that does not fit their subjective preferences. In addition, these folks see themselves as consumers, purchasing a better body or a clearer conscience as they would a dining room or a computer, all based on their individual needs or tastes.

My personal experience as an educator is that when students start seeing school as consumers, their level of humility and respect for the process and the prize greatly suffers. A consumerist attitude incites a sense of selfish, insolent entitlement, which demands rather than requests, seeks to be served rather than to serve, and expects the world to bend to the self rather than the self to bend to the greater picture.

Conclusion

At first glance, one might not readily see how the concurrent declines of active gym and church membership have anything to do with each other. However, a closer review will show that, in both cases, we are increasingly buying this society’s twisted notions of entitlement, convenience, comfort, subjective responsibility, and arrogant self-definition of what is best for us on our terms.  Too pampered, spoiled, and lazy to accept and even embrace the heavy lifting of exercise, proper diet, or a closer relationship with God, we are instead quite content to wallow in a passive, subjective deception of our own making, full of empty memberships and wasted opportunities.

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10 thoughts on “The God Workout: Why Gyms and Hymns are Suffering The Same Fate”

  1. The gym analogy can be continued, I think, on the other end of the spectrum. What about the people who attend both “religiously,” so to speak?

    1. They attend because of social reasons – to hang out with buddies or for the social events connected with the place.
    2. They attend for romantic pursuits. (“You come here often?”)
    3. They attend to flex their physical or spiritual muscles and be admired (rather than doing those crunches at home or those prayers in secret).
    4. They attend because they feel guilty if they don’t go – so the motivation is guilt, not love of God or physical fitness.

    If the Church or gym is full of these kinds of members (and by golly it is – haven’t we all had at least gone through phases?), it would be yet another category to add to your list above about why people stay away. By focusing on other people in church or gym — the hypocrites, the musclebound, the people who chat a little too long at the circuit machines or the sanctuary — rather than the *real* reason for being there, some might not want to participate in a system that breeds that kind of inevitable shallowness. How ironic a reason – and yet it happens all the time.

    1. Actually, either extreme is bad. One should not attend for social, romantic, appearance, or guilt reasons, which are all dysfunctional reasons. The actual point of attending is to honor and recall, and re-experience Christ’s physical sacrifice and the Real Presence in The Eucharist. Mass is not a party.

    1. I hope you are kidding. If not, hymns rhyme with gyms and hymns are played in church, hence the hook. I really hope you are kidding.

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  3. A friend and insightful reader offered this quote:

    “The enemy surrounds us, and we shall perish unless we fight. If we really fight, we are given assurance of victory.” – St. Francis de Sales

    1. Please, the reasons you cite merely prove my point which is that the trend today is to measure value by my own subjective comfort and consumerist attitude. People do not go to church because they expect it to entertain and please them on their terms, or also blame the church for not keeping them interested. It’s all about I am right and anything I do is because you are boring me or doing something wrong. Considering the impact of the Church on history and how long it has been here, the fact that Mr. X does not find it intellectually stimulating or finds it irrelevant to today is so self-centered and insolent as to mirror the sorts of reasons people do not attend gym…too tedious, too tired, etc. Thank you for providing a great illustration of the self-absorption that is pointed out in the article as the root of the issue.

  4. “ Christ warned us that following Him is heavy lifting …”

    Au contraire – Jesus said His yoke is easy and His burden is light. The gym analogy is false. From the time we awake until a time of imperfect rest we are held down by the gravity of life: our mortality. We not only rise under 14 lbs of pressure, but against an uncertain day of heavy
    prospects, the unwanted human obligations we mostly fulfill, a world of ugly news streaming live as it happens. We are very aware this artificial reality is juxtaposed against deep sorrow and hilarious luck, unimaginable pain and sensations bordering on bliss. Believe me, we
    are stronger than you suggest without the gym. We are part of clans that require “heavy lifting” every step of the way, sacrificing time and energy, suffering with a smile all the intimate and intricate knowledge families must balance in order to remain intact. The only sanctuary we have is inside our heads and thoughts; the true church where the Holy Spirit guides us in 7 billion ways (and counting) – nudging us forward with subtle and obvious grace. As Francis remarked, who are we preaching here, Church or Christ. The gym is life itself, the church is US, and the tag Catholic refers to a safe harbor not a pilot required channel that has only one entrance. What you bemoan is a failing rubric of traditional tradition that is in the process of a Catholic reformation. It’s our faith that gets the workout each and every day; this gift that spans death itself.

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