"Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another" (Heb. 10:24-25).

 It just so happens that a number of different statements have presented themselves to me recently, all giving slightly different perspectives on why anybody would go to church.  It seems that they might be helpful for all of us to think about, and so I share them with you here.

 One such statement is given by Philip Yancey in the video study, "What's So Amazing about Grace?"  He talks about a church where an Alcoholics Anonymous group met in the basement but would never dare actually attending church on Sunday morning.  These people were under the impression that only those who have everything together in their lives go to church.  However, Yancey says, "I know of only one good reason to go to church, and that's because I desperately need it."

 In the discussion surrounding this same video, an illustration was shared that is attributed to Pastor Borgardt.  In this illustration, going to church is kind of like going to the filling station for your car.  Your car isn't going to keep running unless you stop regularly to refuel.  In the same way, your faith is going to die pretty quickly unless it is refueled regularly at worship with others - fed by Word and Sacrament.

 Gathering together with others for worship and for study is also like a corrective for our faith.  Certainly, I can worship at any time and in any place, and I can read my Bible and pray (and I should be doing those things anyway!).  However, I can end up with some pretty warped points of view without the teaching and the encouragement of a community of faith!

 Another author actually likens attending church to taking up the cross in order to follow Jesus!  Mark Allan Powell, in his book, Loving Jesus, talks about his encounter with a man whom he refers to as a "Jesus freak."  This man loved Jesus, read his Bible, prayed, and attended Christian rock concerts.  However, he had stopped going to church.  He felt like his own church was something out of Ozzie and Harriet or Leave it to Beaver.  It wasn't his music or his style of dress, and he found it boring.

 Powell asked this man if he loved Jesus and if he would die for Jesus.  The man responded with an enthusiastic "Yes!" to both questions.  Then Powell asked him incredulously, "You would die for him, but you won't be bored for him?"  Then he told him to go to the Ozzie and Harriet church on Sunday mornings, even if it was to sit there for an hour and be bored, and to do it for Jesus.  Later, Powell asks the question, "Where do we get the idea that what happens in church is about us?  It is the Lord's day.  We go to worship the Lord" (p. 131).

 We go to worship the Lord because we need to.  It keeps us in a right relationship with God and with others, and it refuels our faith.  It might not always be my personal choice for music or style, but after all, it's not all about me!  It's about loving Jesus!  

In Christ,
 Pastor Lynne Hutchison Moore