CHURCH GOING MAKES PEOPLE HAPPY...
At least that's what the research seems to indicate. An article in the Church Times states: "The survey, which was commissioned by the Cabinet Office, found that religious people were 'happier than average'; and cites research from the United States which shows that attending church every fortnight 'can have the happiness-equivalent of a doubling of money income'”.

The problem with this kind of research is that it sends the wrong messages. First of all, it assumes that church going is about us and our happiness. Historically, the church has believed that we gather to worship God because he is God -- the creator and the sustainer, the savior -- who deserves the worship of his gathered people. Any benefit that we get from worship is a real but distant secondary factor.

Secondly, this kind of research sends the message that if you're not living a euphoric life then there must be something wrong with your religion. I think of prophets such as Jeremiah and Elijah who were anything but happy a good deal of the time. Their satisfaction came in faithfulness to their call. But by modern definitions of happiness they probably were not very high on the scale.

It's not primarily about us or our happiness -- but about God. "Though he was God, he [Christ Jesus] did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal's death on a cross. Because of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2:6-11 (NLT)