it shouldn't be a surprise when God's children go to church... it should be the expectation...
Well, we survived another vacation. Aaron and I just got home from spending the week on the beautiful island of St. Martin. It was hot, it has humid, we got our fair share of sunburns, but the scenery was amazing. Despite the fact that the island has been in a drought for almost a year, it beat the pants off of our scenery at home. Of course, when it comes down to it, there really is no place like home. Our little area of Texas may be flat as a pancake and dry as bone, but I wouldn't trade it in for the beaches or view were I given the opportunity.
Our pastor once said that simply because we're on vacation doesn't mean we take a vacation from church. The body is universal. That's the beauty of being a part of it. Anyway, we fully agreed with his logic, so we decided we'd go to church in St. Martin. Plus, I really wanted to see how church was done in another country. After all, we were experiencing a new culture, so I wondered if it would be similar to our home church. We jumped in a cab and headed down town not sure what to expect. The cab pulled up to the curb and as soon as we opened the door, I could hear praise music flowing from the building. Clearly, we were at the right place. We paid our cab driver and headed inside to join in on the fun. We didn't know a soul there, but simply being in God's house with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ gave me some comfort. We may not know one another, but we serve the same God who knows each one of us and calls us by name. We looked different, we sounded different, but we had a bond. A tie that held us together. And the fact that two young Americans could sit in a church full of St. Martins and sing praises to our Risen Savior overwhelmed my heart and my mind. Simply being in the house of the Lord felt like home...even if it wasn't our home.
This morning our home church met for "kick-off" Sunday. The Sunday where everyone is a little melancholy because summer has officially come to an end and school starts tomorrow. Anyway, our plane landed at midnight last night and we didn't pull into our garage at 5:15AM this morning. We drove through the night because we needed to be back for church. More than needed, we wanted to be back for church. We wanted to gather with our church family and friends to worship. We wanted to be fed. We love hearing from our pastor each week, and we simply love being in the house of the Lord. But as we sat in the airport and told fellow travelers of our plans, they looked at us like we were crazy. Drive through to the night "just" to go to church in the morning? Why not get a hotel room, sleep in, and go to church next week. I mean it's not like we "had" to be there. Church was going to go on regardless of our presence. No one was depending on the Davis' to show up. So why all the hassle to be there? Why make such a big effort to be at church?
But it shouldn't be a surprise when God's people go to church, even when it seems inconvenient. It should be expected. We shouldn't look for excuses not to go, the assumption should be that we are there. Every week. Not when it's convenient, when we're rested, or when we have time. Because if we based our church attendance on timing, on our schedules, we'd never make it. But we go because we love the Lord and we've committed our lives to him. We go because we long to serve him, to be faithful to him. We go because, as believers, Christ should come before anything else in our lives. He should be the priority of our week. If we're willing to break our neck to get to work every day, to go to a job that will one day end, then shouldn't we be just as dedicated and concerned about getting to church and being a part of something that will effect our soul for eternity?
Sure, you don't have to go to church to be a Christian. And, like our pastor says, you don't have to go home to be married. But God created the church, the body, for a reason. Many parts working together to serve one purpose. And when we meet together, we grow. We're encouraged, we're refueled, we're stronger, and we're reminded of God's goodness. We see the body in action, we see Christ, and we give him the praise and honor he is due.
"And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near." - Hebrews 10:25
Our pastor once said that simply because we're on vacation doesn't mean we take a vacation from church. The body is universal. That's the beauty of being a part of it. Anyway, we fully agreed with his logic, so we decided we'd go to church in St. Martin. Plus, I really wanted to see how church was done in another country. After all, we were experiencing a new culture, so I wondered if it would be similar to our home church. We jumped in a cab and headed down town not sure what to expect. The cab pulled up to the curb and as soon as we opened the door, I could hear praise music flowing from the building. Clearly, we were at the right place. We paid our cab driver and headed inside to join in on the fun. We didn't know a soul there, but simply being in God's house with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ gave me some comfort. We may not know one another, but we serve the same God who knows each one of us and calls us by name. We looked different, we sounded different, but we had a bond. A tie that held us together. And the fact that two young Americans could sit in a church full of St. Martins and sing praises to our Risen Savior overwhelmed my heart and my mind. Simply being in the house of the Lord felt like home...even if it wasn't our home.
This morning our home church met for "kick-off" Sunday. The Sunday where everyone is a little melancholy because summer has officially come to an end and school starts tomorrow. Anyway, our plane landed at midnight last night and we didn't pull into our garage at 5:15AM this morning. We drove through the night because we needed to be back for church. More than needed, we wanted to be back for church. We wanted to gather with our church family and friends to worship. We wanted to be fed. We love hearing from our pastor each week, and we simply love being in the house of the Lord. But as we sat in the airport and told fellow travelers of our plans, they looked at us like we were crazy. Drive through to the night "just" to go to church in the morning? Why not get a hotel room, sleep in, and go to church next week. I mean it's not like we "had" to be there. Church was going to go on regardless of our presence. No one was depending on the Davis' to show up. So why all the hassle to be there? Why make such a big effort to be at church?
But it shouldn't be a surprise when God's people go to church, even when it seems inconvenient. It should be expected. We shouldn't look for excuses not to go, the assumption should be that we are there. Every week. Not when it's convenient, when we're rested, or when we have time. Because if we based our church attendance on timing, on our schedules, we'd never make it. But we go because we love the Lord and we've committed our lives to him. We go because we long to serve him, to be faithful to him. We go because, as believers, Christ should come before anything else in our lives. He should be the priority of our week. If we're willing to break our neck to get to work every day, to go to a job that will one day end, then shouldn't we be just as dedicated and concerned about getting to church and being a part of something that will effect our soul for eternity?
Sure, you don't have to go to church to be a Christian. And, like our pastor says, you don't have to go home to be married. But God created the church, the body, for a reason. Many parts working together to serve one purpose. And when we meet together, we grow. We're encouraged, we're refueled, we're stronger, and we're reminded of God's goodness. We see the body in action, we see Christ, and we give him the praise and honor he is due.
"And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near." - Hebrews 10:25
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