“STOP GOING TO CHURCH”
“Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.”
– Psalm 95:1-7
For most of my adult life I have resisted answering the question… ‘where do you go to church?’ It’s such an American thing.
I usually reply… “I don’t” … and that baffles many… especially those who know I’m an ordained clergyperson! And eventually I get to preaching by saying… “Stop going to Church.”
Why?
Well… those of us who are guilty of being Jesus followers… well… we ARE the church! We can go to Kroger’s or HEB or we can go to the gas station or go to the movies because… well… because we’re not Kroger’s or HEB or the gas station or the movies… but… we ARE the church…. so…it’s important to BE the church!
And a good practice to BE the church is to… attend worship… in order to be better at being church… kind of like when St. Luke reported… “and Jesus went into the synagogue to worship on the Sabbath… as was his custom.” (Luke 4:16) First things first as the world needs the church… every day!
Sometimes you and I do, too… especially in those moments where life gets tough and we need a loving, supporting, caring faith community to walk with us so we can keep going and hang in there so we will be available to others who need the church as well.
After all… the church is really a hospital for sinners more than it is a showcase for saints. It’s about faith… and faith matters!
What happens when we attend worship? I know lots of teenagers who say… “church is boring.” When I was a teenager, sometimes it was! . But I think hockey is boring, too… because I never learned the rules … how to play OR watch.
Plus the game only had 3 quarters… sheesh. And just for the record … I’ll take boring over chaotic living any day of the week… so… what happens at worship? Well… God shows up! It’s always Easter and Jesus is on the loose … risen from the grave… already there. Remember?
To welcome us … as where two or more are gathered together… Jesus promises to be present.
So let’s just all begin the week by saying… “see you at God’s house Sunday… I hear something good is going to happen… “ as that is when we embrace the rhythm of God’s love and grace… as St. Benedict used to say… ‘ora et labora’… in Latin… ‘pray and work’ in English… not one before the other or do both and stop… but as the cycle of life… resting in God’s love and grace and serving Christ by serving the world…
SO… at worship… we GATHER TOGETHER to remember ‘who we are’ and ‘whose we are’ and to be honest about our lives as we confess our sins together… admitting our brokenness and shortcomings and to trust God who is always ready to forgive… and then… after a hearty sharing of ‘the peace of Christ’ with handshakes, hugs and sometimes a kiss on the cheek… we have our heads and hearts re-centered so we are ready to listen to God’s Holy Word in order to find some redirection for what’s in store for us today… this week and down the road of life… and sometimes the pastor even has some good comments about that Holy Word… and if that isn’t enough … Jesus feeds us for the journey as we gather as God’s family around the table… so that we have the presence of Christ within us to go back into the world… as going to church/worship isn’t really the goal.., it’s the means by which we strengthen our servanthood in Jesus’ name… and we get to sing … and… I really like that part… so… stop going to church and take time to worship… this Sunday may be just the day you’ve been waiting for…
The Rev. Dr. Brian K. Gigee is a long-time resident of Pearland, having pastored four churches over the last four decades in Texas and Louisiana. Read more following Brian’s blog ‘murmurings’ at https://briangigee.wordpress.com/. Send comments and/or questions to godworks247365@gmail.com.
