Being part of a faith based based community and attending services four times a month has been found to increase longevity. Above is a photo of Saint Coloman Church in Schwangau, Germany.
The church is named after the Irish monk, Coloman. I think it fits this subject of my post today.
In my AARP bulletin a while ago an article lists 99 tips for longer life. Tip number 99 states: "Pray for longer life. A 2016 study followed 74,534 women for 20 years; those who attended religious services more than once a week enjoyed a 33 percent lower mortality rate than those who skipped church."
That lower mortality rate of 33 percent is huge!
The AARP list was written by Mike Zimmerman who has written a dozen books on
health. Though the title of the tip says "pray" the tip itself says
attend religious services.
Dan Buettner's new book "The Blue Zones: Secrets for Living Longer from the Healthiest Places on Earth" lists in his Power of 9 "Belong. Being part of some type of faith-based community and attending services four times a month adds to the longevity of the Blue Zones populations."
The above photo is a synagogue in Romania.
I am also in what we call a "small group" in
my
church, where the 25 members meet once a week in fellowship and I agree
with the leader who says we are family. We help each other in every way
needed. We are supporting a refugee family from the
Ukraine and found them housing here. Then a wildfire here
forced them to move and we found them another home. Imagine the anguish
of worry about the war, and having to move repeated times. At church we
create families.
"For where two or three are gathered together
in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Matthew 18:20.
Above is a photo of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, my beautiful lady. Yes,
I do feel she is mine and of course she belongs to the world. I visited
her a dozen times when I lived in Paris for two summers, listened to
several free organ recitals and felt uplifted whenever I entered this
Cathedral. My husband and I were also in Paris for
one Christmas and he went to a midnight service in the vaults below the
church. He told me it was very dark and cold and he sipped from a small
bottle of Grand Marnier to keep him warm. I hope Notre Dame will be
beautifully restored to its original design.
