Church Of Cannibus Raises Question Around What It Means To Be A Church

Fun fact about me: I love going to church. It’s one of my favorite places to hang out. 

That may sound strange, a young yet grown woman who enjoys spending the majority of her time in a church, but it’s true. And I don’t just mean going for Sunday service or Bible study. There’s something about being in a place of worship that simultaneously puts my soul at ease and sends my spirits soaring. 

I grew up in church, I was one of those kids who was in the pews a minimum of five nights a week, including some Saturdays for choir and praise dance practice. I spent the majority of my childhood in the sanctuary, doing my homework during deacon board meetings, gossiping and passing notes in the choir stand with fellow church kids, participating in every Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, and Youth Conference. 

Church is where I’ve made some of my earliest and longest lasting friendships, where I slept in the laps of women who I think of as family, and where I learned about God and His plan and purpose for my life. As an adult, church is where I have an excuse to get dressed up and feel confident, where I can hear some amazing music, and where I can be in community with likeminded people who love me with the love of Christ.

I’ve definitely become one of those Aunties who’s always lollygagging in the parking lot after service, not wanting to leave the sanctuary. Being in a place of worship fills me with happiness. In church, I feel safe, I feel enlightened, I feel joyful, I feel lifted. And that’s exactly what a church should be, right?

Well, there’s another church in Colorado where people are also getting lifted up in the spirit of community. In fact, they’re literally getting high. At The International Church of Cannabis in Denver, congregants gather to worship by smoking weed.

“We call it elevationism,” Church of Cannabis co-founder Steve Berke told CNN. “You can be an elevationist Christian, you can be an elevationist Jew, you can be an elevationist Buddhist, you can be an elevationist atheist. The whole concept is you use cannabis in your spiritual journey to be a better version of self.”

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The Church is one of the top tourist attractions in Denver and has over 19,000 regular members. Visitors can smoke on the premises at private members-only events and the Church is open to anyone of any age during their non-smoking public hours where guests can congregate to read, talk, play games, do crafts, or see the “Beyond Light Show,” a colorful display of abstract lights that play along the walls and ceiling of the domed chapel and fill viewers with an elevated spirit.

Some of you reading that may balk at the idea of a “weed church” that encourages drug use in a place that’s traditionally considered to be sacred ground. But I don’t think the marijuana or the fun and games makes the ground any less sacred. In fact, it might make the church all the more holy.

In Biblical scripture, Jesus defined His church as more than just a physical place. Church is community, a source of goodness in the world, where the body of Christ comes together. A church by this definition is any place where people of all walks of life can gather to find spiritual connection, deeper learning, and a greater sense of purpose. That’s what my church experience has been for me and that’s what is to those who attend the Church of Cannabis find in their sanctuary.

“If you’re looking to elevate your mind and your consciousness and find a place where you belong without judgement and have fun for the whole family, I would say this is the place,” one member told CNN. 

All churches are not created equal. Some of the most traditional churches are places where their congregants feel the least amount of safety or elevation. In fact, their experience in a chapel has been one of judgement and abuse. Church attendance has been on a steady decline in most religions in the U.S. including Christianity. Scandals, hypocrisy, lack of community involvement, and intolerant attitudes have turned people away from the church, especially younger generations. For too many people, church isn’t fun, it’s suffocating.

Shouldn’t church be a place where people can go and feel free to be who God always meant for them to be?

I came to church as a child because my parents and grandparents made me. But I stayed in church as an adult because I found something in the sanctuary that was right for me. I found fun, I found freedom, I found myself. It’s on this sacred ground where I find peace and purpose. 

Church is where I become a better version of myself because it’s where I feel I can be the best, most authentic version of myself. It’s where I learned to see myself as God sees me. It’s not where you go because you think you’re already perfect in God’s eyes, church is where you go to find God and in doing so, find yourself. I wish that feeling of discovery on anyone who walks into the doors of a sanctuary or wherever they choose to worship, however they choose to worship. If your church doesn’t leave you feeling higher than when you walked in, then what’s the point?

A true church is wherever you go to commune with God and with His people that makes you feel safe and seen. Church can and should be fun, church should be a place where you’re filled with love for others, for God, and for yourself. Church is the place where you should come alive. There’s room for everybody in that kind of place. 

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