Some times, it’s so much easier not to bother with church. This was the challenge posed by worship leader Tyler Braun in his thought-provoking post,  “My Selfish Church”. 

“In reality I could put in my favorite Gungor album and hear a lot better music than most any church in town. I could find a podcast sermon that would probably be a lot better than anything I could hear at my church. What’s the point of making such a sacrifice to attend church? 

What follows below are my thoughts from a “call to worship” meditation, re-edited for today’s blog. It begins by answering the question with a question.  ————————————————————————————————

Do you ever think about the story of your life and what it means?

As Christians, we are a people with a story. Our story is told through a book, we call it the Holy Bible, we believe it is the word of God.

It’s a story all about a God who created the heavens and the earth, and created man in his image. What He made was good, because He is good.

And He created us, so He could love us and we could love Him back.

But love must be freely given to be true love. We used our freedom poorly, and choose the path of sin, creating an eternal barrier and separation from God.

God’s story tells of His involvement in the history of the world. From creation to a man named Abraham through whom He promised to bless all the peoples of the world. Then over 2000 years ago He became a man named Jesus.  Jesus shows us the way to the Father, and provides the only way for restoration. His life, death, and resurrection make a way for every man, woman, and child to become a new creation.

Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil in this world. He left us with the mission of being His representatives here on the earth, through the power of Holy Spirit living in us. That’s a mystery.

The story says He’s coming again and every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

And that’s why we do church and why we worship, because we believe this story to be true.

Why do you believe its true?

We believe it’s true because we’ve tasted and we’ve seen “that the Lord is good.” Our eyes were opened to the true, and we could see the Light and the hope of the world.

So in worship we remember this story and how we have a part to play in it.

It’s not finished yet.

We recall this story to build our faith, as an act of faith. We retell the story for the next generation, so that all may know and be saved.

And we come to join the heavenly choir along with the saints of the ages and all the celestial beings. We come to participate and be part of the song of heaven.

There will be no spectators, no observers, no passive worship in the presence of the Almighty.

So let us encourage one another when we gather through psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Let’s lift our hearts to the Lord, and offer a sacrifice of praise in the house of the Lord.

Question: So, what do you say? Why bother with church worship?