Clothesline 318 "Come to Worship"

Why do you go to church? Wait…wrong terminology; that’s not really my question…but, let’s look at that wrong terminology for a minute. Just about everyone says “go to church”, and it’s always been the wrong terminology. Perhaps we use those words because it’s safer…safer on two levels. First of all, if we are Christians, and if we believe in the words we hear every Sunday, we don’t go to church; we are the church. We, along with all the others that sit around us on Sunday, are the church as Jesus intended it to be.

The second level of this subject is much closer, even threatening. If you invite someone to join you on Sunday morning, what do you say? You say, “Would you like to come to church with me?” You know that’s what you’d say. Unless I deliberately think about it, that’s what I would say as well. The correct word, however, is much closer, much more intimate, much more telling. We should say, “Would you like to join us for worship on Sunday?” Wow! That’s definitely personal and intimate, isn’t it? It’s a lot more powerful than using the word ‘church’. Worship is one of those words that tells others what you’re made of. It tells others that you are close to a God that means everything to you. No one uses the word worship unless one understands what it means.

The dictionary says that worship means adore, love, revere, venerate. Except for love, you wouldn’t attach any of those words with another person. That’s how personal and powerful the word worship is.

So we’ve determined that we don’t go to church because we are the church. Then we learned that while we don’t go to church, we go to worship… something that is reserved for God alone. There is no one and nothing in this world that deserves our worship except Almighty God.

Some people find this one-hour-a-week relaxing, peaceful, a chance to regroup for the coming week. Others look forward to seeing friends. This reason is particularly important to those who live alone. It’s also special for those who live in a household where there is more than one belief system in the family or where only one of them acknowledges being a Christian. It’s an hour a week that hopefully will give one strength for the next six days.

Those are reasons for “going to church,” and I can see ever so clearly why some of us don’t use the phrase “going to worship.” Look again at the reasons written above. All of them are focused inwardly! Not one of them gives any direct reference to God. Maybe that’s why so many of us still say “I’m going to church.” Somehow, we’ve lost the awe of our God, the amazing Deity who created us out of nothing, the Almighty, loving God who demands that we keep the Sabbath holy. And why should we keep it holy? Isn’t that obvious? To worship! Yes, our personal needs are important to us and to God. Yes, seeing our friends is vital to our well-being, and God knows that. But first and foremost, Sunday morning is a day of worship. Sunday morning is a time we take a breath from whatever happened over the previous six days, and we not only come before the Lord for strength and wisdom to take on another week, but we first must come to worship!

Worship is the beginning of every time of prayer. Do you remember being taught how prayer should be organized? Using the word ‘ACTS’ with each letter standing for a part of our prayer, our worship is complete. The first letter stands for Adoration…worship of our God! The other words are Contrition, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. Everything begins with praise and worship, then we ask for forgiveness, we thank Him for his blessings, and we make our requests for help in whatever we need. Still, everything must begin with worship.

Our Sunday morning experience is the ultimate of worship and in the Episcopal tradition, we follow the command of Jesus Himself: “Do this in remembrance of me,” when we celebrate Holy Communion. The main liturgical setting in our church centers around the Sacrament and that’s why we come to worship. And yes, we come for a time of peace that we didn’t get during the week. And yes, we come to see our friends. And yes, we come to ask for help and guidance. But first and foremost, we come to worship. It’s good practice, I think, because Scripture says that heaven is a place where we will worship God, day and night. So, let’s prepare for eternity: Come and worship with us this Sunday…and every Sunday!