It is this that I fail to understand. It seems to me a very Protestant thing. I call it church hopping. It is like people are never satisfied and always looking for greener grass on the other side. I do not grasp how people can claim to believe something then after a while change. Obviously, I do not know if you have changed denominations much but it certainly sounds like that kind of thing.
I perceive that there are two ways to view whether one should take Holy Communion at a church. The question should be: do you share that particular churchs/denonomations view/theology of/around the Eucherist. ?? Is is just symbolic, like many Reformed argued ???... see the early discussions between Luther and Zwigli .. or does something happen turning it into the true Body and Blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ through Cosubstantiation or Transubstansiation ? If a persons understanding theologically of what is occuring is differant than the understanding of the church/denomination they are taking Holy Communion at , then why are they attending said church/denomnination ? If you are not in agreement/understanding , why are you there ? The corollary, from a particular church/denominations point of view, for at least closed Holy Communion would/could/should be : We want to make sure that the person who is taking the Eucherist understands what it is. From that point, its a matter of a church/denomination have a good catechetical program to teach its members its speficic theology around the Eucherist, and other topics.
It happens within Rome no less. People go to conservative parishes, or liberal, or your FSSP, or your SSPX latin masses, or your Byzantine Rites, depending on what they want. Or within the Eastern tradition you go to your ACA, or ROCOR, or your Armenian Rite, or Byzantine Rite, or heck even a Western Rite which is secretly Anglican. It's just a feature of modern Christianity.
That would be like me going one week to some current fad like Messy Church or All-Age Worship at an Evangelical parish, the week after going to Choral Mattins at a middle-of-the-road parish and the following week Solemn High Mass at an Anglo-Catholic parish. However, I would still be going to a Church of England Church. I think that is different from going from Baptist to Methodist to Salvation Army to United Reformed, et al.
When I wrote that, I was thinking particularly of the Baptist church down the street. No offense intended. In other words, someone can identify themselves as a born-again believer who is like-minded in the understanding and significance of Communion, and they will still exclude the person from Communion until he gets baptized in a Baptist church.
Shaun, I'm diggin' the beard. Just started to grow mine 48 hours ago. There are times that I don't have cash in my wallet. There are times that I'm stretching my paycheck to the end of the month. I go to church regardless. I don't think people pay that close attention--they shouldn't. God knows your heart. Plus, it is a good way to develop the virtue of humility if you indeed feel that people are "watching" to see if you dip your hand into the plate.
People don't give at my Parish every Sunday either. I help take up offerings sometimes and there have been times I just zoomed up the isle as there was nobody giving. So please, don't let that stop you from attending Shaun. Nobody will give a thought to whether you dropped something in the offering plate or not. So head on to church and allow yourself to be strengthened by Christ through the Eucharist.
More than half the people in my parish give electronically, which really means when the plate goes round more than half the people are not putting cash on the plate. It really is a non issue. The offering is bread and wine, our labours and our loves, ecstasy and joy, what we have been and what we hope to be, offered up to be taken, blessed and broken, to bring light and love to a broken world. It is not about the money. Money is of itself nothing but a symbol of value in the mortal world, and it makes sense that what we offer (electronically or on the plate) in the way of cold hard cash is just another dimension to offering. Some people make the mistake of thinking offering = collection.
I don't think you should feel this way at all. We need to remember why we go to church. We go to worship God. We don't go to line the coffers of the church we attend. I do know sometimes it can feel like the church is constantly demanding money for this, that and the other. My wife and I are financially comfortable but we don't give to every cause the parish asks people to support. Also we should remember the parable of the Widow's Mite and only give according to our own means. In our parish we donate through its stewardship scheme which means we never put anything in the collection plate when it goes round. If anybody wants to reach an uninformed, incorrect and uncharitable conclusion as to why we don't that is on their conscience. It's their sin not mine. I wouldn't let this worry you at all.
I will chime in and say that I know people who give once a month, once a quarter, or even once a year. So please don't let the idea of weekly giving being expected dissuade you from attending church! Your presence will be appreciated greatly, I am sure. God bless you, Brother.