Monday, March 19, 2007

Why Go To Church?

I overheard a lady telling someone why she doesn't go to church. "I can have church in my own house. I don't have to be with a group of people and be in an actual church building in order to go to church," she said. While I do agree with parts of her statement, I ran across this little story.

A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all." This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher: "I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this... They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!"

Enough said.

1 comment:

April said...

That is such a good point. I have that problem with my mother. She does go to church and she does believe that the church helps her understand more and more. Her statement was much like the woman who stated that she could have church in her own home. The difference is, my mother goes to church. What she doesn't believe in is joining a church. She's been going to the same church for 20 years (my entire lifetime) but never joined. My brother and I were baptised in the church so, we are automatically members. My mom doesn't like what she calls, structured religion. (Meaning Southern Baptist, United Methodist, Congregational Methodist, etc.) She tells me all the time that she is not apart of any denomination. And I must say, I have to agree with her. She does go to a congregational methodist church but she doesn't see herself as congregational methodist. She sees herself as a Christian. She has a direct line to the Lord. She goes to church to sing for the Lord. And she listens to the sermons.

I said all this to say this. You may be able to have your own church in your own home but church is where we grow spiritually. The church helps me better understand the Bible and the different scriptures. If I didn't go to church at all, I probably wouldn't be as accountable as I should be when it comes to mine and God's relationship.