Lewis, Tolkien... Church?

After hearing my girlfriend, her family, her best friend, and my coworkers extol the greatness of The Chronicles of Narnia movie, I developed an insatiable hunger to see it myself. I already had a bit of a craving, but after their reports, I became hungry. So, to try and abate this hunger, I read a couple of critic's reviews of it, which in the end only served to make the hunger almost unbearable. The first one was pretty harsh on the film (this person was probably predisposed to disliking it). The next, however, written by Roger Ebert, was particularly fascinating. Not only did he give a favorable review, but he seemed to understand, or at least be aware of, the Christian undertones and morals (or whatever) that Lewis wrote into the movie. But that is not the only reason why it was fascinating. This was the major reason:

"C. S. Lewis, who wrote the Narnia books, and J.R.R. Tolkien, who wrote the Ring trilogy, were friends who taught at Oxford at the same time, were pipe-smokers, drank in the same pub, [and] took Christianity seriously..."

Now, I am not given to pipe-smoking or drinking, but this sounds very attractive to me. This sounds more like fellowship to me than 300 people gathered in one building singing the same song and listening to same sermon week after week. Two friends sharing a drink and dinner sounds much more friendly than church does. So, I started wondering...

Why are we doing church on Sunday? I acknowledge that it is the day that our Christian culture has accepted as the day to gather together and worship, and that it may or may not have something to do with a day of rest (Sabbath). But really, how many of us honestly rest on Sundays? Growing up, Sunday morning was often stressful... getting everyone up and ready in their "Sunday Best" and then rushing around in the afternoon to spend 'family time' before church in the evening. Did God really call us to this? Forget forsaking the gathering together of the 'brethren'... there are times when we downright hate it.

My point is this: Who says we have to go to 'church' to have church? Why does it have to be 300 people shouting or weeping or (in many cases) just sitting there? Why do we have to have intro-worship music-sermon (with some alterations)? I am starting to feel like Brian McLaren in his introduction to 'A New Kind of Christian' where he says that these questions are starting to scare him. It is scary. I wonder sometimes if I'm off my rocker and so is everyone else that is thinking these thoughts. What's even more terrifying is that this may be God leaning on me...

Any opinions?