Summer Question: Why go to church?

If going to church doesn’t save you – why do we attend?

My son likes to play football. It is a lot of hard work, practice several hours a day, eating right, getting lots of sleep, working out the bumps and bruises, and practice, practice, practice. When it’s time for a game, he is all hyped up and ready to go. Church is like that. After all we do and all the experiences God has given us in our lives, all the joys of finding grace in some of the strangest places, how can you not be all hyped up and ready to go? It’s like getting suited up for the big game and deciding not to play. Your question also hints that church may not be all it should be. It seldom is. There were times in my youth when I thought church was boring, and I was right. There are times in my life now when it still strikes me the same way. But church is a community; it is the vehicle that brings Christ into the lives of many and the vehicle through which many find a safe and comfortable place to respond to the love God has shown them in a meaningful way. Church is never a wonderfully meaningful place for everyone all the time. Most of the time we are here because others need us to be a part of their God-response experience. One could respond that church is not meaningful for you right now and therefore you need not attend, for which I would respond that perhaps you need church more than ever to help you get a handle on the issue of self-centeredness or having a big head. Or you could see yourself as a part of a worshiping community, in which you are all dressed and ready for the game because the others gathered cannot imagine being there without you and you cannot not being here for them. You do not have to go to church to be saved, but knowing Christ has given you this gift of life, where else would you want to be. I hear all the time from some that they can worship God in a boat fishing as well as in church. They are right in what they say. The only trouble is that before too long they are worshiping an Irish lord rather than the risen Lord. (an Irish lord is an ugly Alaskan fish with a big head and no body, and it is so disappointing to pull one in when you are after halibut)