13th Sunday after Pentecost  Proper 16

 

August 26, 2007

(Isaiah 28:14-22; Ps. 46, Hebrews 12:18-19 & 22-29; Luke 13:22-30)

WHY ATTEND CHURCH ??

 

the Rev. Ken Kroohs

St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church, High Point, NC

                                                    

MAY THE WORDS OF MY MOUTH ... AND THE MEDITATIONS OF ALL OUR HEARTS ... BE ALWAYS ACCEPTABLE TO YOU --- OUR STRENGTH AND OUR REDEEMER   AMEN

 

    Question for you .... Why are you here today? ... Not just St. Christopher’s but why are you in church today?

   

    Most of us would provide several partial answers if we took the time to really exam our motives — but I am wondering about your primary response — the first thought that hit you.

 

    If your first thought was “It is Sunday and that’s what I do on Sunday” — that’s unfortunate.  If your primary answer is that you are here out of habit — that’s unfortunate.

 

    Or if your primary answer is something like: “I was told to attend church on Sunday so that is my responsibility ---- that’s unfortunate.

 

    Or is your primary answer is something like: “If I don’t go to church I will burn in hell for all eternity” — if your primary answer is fear ---- that’s unfortunate.

 

    Or if your primary answer is: “I get to see my friends.” — that’s unfortunate.

 

    If your primary answer is: “I couldn’t think of anything else to do with my time” — that’s REALLY unfortunate!!

 

    What about someone who may be here for the first time or one of the first times .... maybe has seldom attended any church .... if their answer is: “I don’t know. .... I have been thinking that there may be more to my life and thought I would give church a try” .....  Now there’s an answer the rest of us can envy!

 

    If we are attending out of habit, or responsibility, or fellowship, or fear than we probably are like the person who walks into the fine restaurant and orders the same meal every time.  Because of the familiarity, we may not even consider what else is available .... all the great reasons we could be there.

 

    But I suspect some of you are just waiting — you’re wondering: “When will he tell us the correct answer?”  “When will Ken tell us WHY we should be here?”

 

    That of course assumes there is one correct answer ... an assumption I do not agree with.  There will be as many good answers as there are people.  That said, I believe there is an over riding, or maybe it is a foundational answer well worth considering.

 

    I believe the primary reason to be in church is to help us learn — or be reminded of how much God loves us.  I believe that ultimately that knowledge ... that understanding ... that acceptance of how much God loves each and every one of us is the “missing piece”.  That is the basis for the joy and satisfaction that being connected with God can bring us.

 

    ..... I hope everyone here has, or has had ... or at the very least can imagine having a person in their life who can say “I love you” and give you a warm, fuzzy, tingling feeling all over.  A person who says “I love you” and our reaction is — “that’s what makes life worthwhile” 

 

    What most of us miss, most of the time if not all of the time is that God is making that very statement to us.  God is saying: “I love you.” 

 

    And just like that special person makes us feel good, not just by words but by actions ... when we do things together ... when we come together with others who know God’s love ..... our relationship with God gets even stronger.

 

    So why come to church?  A major reason is to help us hear again, and be reminded about God’s love for us.  Part of it is learning about how we can react and respond to God’s love so that “I love you” becomes ever more powerful.

 

    Some people would answer my original question, “why are you here today?”, with something like: “because God loves me and therefore I should be here to worship God”.  Not a bad answer certainly but one that COULD be leading us astray.  The word I would worry about is “should” .... that because God loves us we “should” attend church. 

 

    That word could be implying something similar to the responsibility reason I mentioned before.  “I was told I should go to church.” ... That COULD be ... might not be but could be similar to someone saying: “The guy signs my paycheck so I should go to his event.”

 

    So the problem?  If the reason we go is simply because the guy signs our paycheck that is not a very powerful or faithful reason to go!

 

    No, I believe we SHOULD attend worship but we SHOULD attend worship for our own benefit – not God’s.  Remember last week I talked about how worship and praise are pretty much the same thing.  Furthermore, we do not worship or praise for God’s benefit.  God is happy when we do but God does not gain strength or anything based on the number of people who worship that Sunday.

 

    We worship and praise God because that is what helps us grow  closer to God.  We worship and praise God because that is what can make us happier - stronger - more satisfied with our lives.  When we praise God we learn more about God which makes us closer to God and makes us more appreciative of God’s love.

 

    Imagine this — imagine a person comes up to you at some event and says: “You are doing a good job.”  Now you don’t know this person very well – maybe have seen them around – maybe know their first name but not much more.

 

    Then a friend comes up to you and says “Wow!  Don’t you know that person is a world renown expert!  He is respected throughout the world!” ..... Now would that compliment from that person mean more?

 

    When we take our knowledge of God out of the theoretical head knowledge, into the real sense of God’s majesty and glory — and THEN we hear God saying: “I love you” — that makes a major difference.

 

    The sense of purpose in our life knowing God loves us ... that sense of satisfaction and completion is, literally, impossible to fully describe.  The closest parallel is a human person we love very much.  If we can remember especially the first few days or weeks when we just could not stay away ... when we hated to be apart from that person ... when we would make excuses to get together ... if we can remember or imagine that we get a glimpse of the love God wants us to know.

 

    But if we can then remember or imagine the time when that very special person became ....  Not less special ... just something we took for granted – a little anyway.  We still liked to be with them, but maybe let other things get in the way a bit more.

 

    Well that is where our relationship with God frequently ends up.  We remember a time when we knew God loves us ... when we felt very close to God and, if asked, would say that is still true. ... our knowledge has been theoretical – intellectual.

 

    Earlier I said that if the primary reason to be here in church today was because we felt responsible – we “ought” to or because it was a habit – that was unfortunate.  I will not change that, it is still unfortunate but there can be times in our lives when that is the best we can do.

 

    I suspect that everyone goes through “dry spells” ... times when we just cannot connect with God no matter how hard we try.  Times when ... it is surprising how often this description is used ... times when we feel our prayers never get above the ceiling.

 

    One great reason to read about the saints of the church, both historic and contemporary, is that most of them describe such times in their lives.  I came home yesterday from a wedding to find a Time magazine in the mailbox with a cover story about Mother Teresa’s long “dark night of the soul” – a term coined by St. John of the Cross in the 16th century.  If such great saints can have “dry times” than certainly we can!

 

    Those saints talk about going to worship because they “ought” to, because it was a habit ... but they talk about those actions as what are necessary to grow back out of the dry times.  To continue the rote prayers and seemingly meaningless words until they begin to have meaning again.

 

    When we are in such a time we don’t just “let it happen” and hope for a change.  We do continue the worship and prayer but we also try to change so we can make that growth sooner.

 

    Finally, I do want to touch on the “fear” rationale.  The person who attends church so they will not burn in hell for all eternity. .... NOT A BAD REASON! .... Don’t mis-understand me about that.  But it is not a matter of attending to build up points with God.  If a desire to avoid hell sends us towards God – a good reason, but a good reason to START the journey.  If the journey ends with that reason ... that’s unfortunate.

 

    The journey never really ends.  We come to worship for lots of reasons – and maybe the best reason is to discover new and exciting ways to know God’s love even better.

                     

             AMEN

 

We have previous sermons on our website.  To read an earlier recent sermon just enter: www.st-christopher.org/sermon.html. 

 

CLICK HERE TO RESPOND: I would enjoy reading your comments about this sermon. Please feel free to discuss content or presentation.  (If you wish to use another email system send your comments to:  ken@st-christopher.com)