Why Church?
A Word from Canon Schneider in the December 3, 2017 Adventurer
Why do we go to church on Sunday? It’s a loaded question. But think about the reasons we tell each other why we ought to go to church. Is it to pray? Is it to sing sacred music? Is it to hear sermons? Is it to study God’s word to us in Scripture?
I dare say we can do all these things from the comfort of our own homes. Yet there is one thing that will always be absent in private: other people.
Christ told us, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” And that idea above all else ought to be our definition of church, which means “gathering.” An assembly of God’s people can be as small as two who are gathered in Christ’s name. And when this happens, we are confident Christ is there.
This is why we go to church on Sunday. We go primarily to be with each other and do all the things I listed above: pray, sing, listen to sermons, read and study God’s word – together .
I’m afraid, though, that contemporary society treats church and any similar gathering like a rock concert. There may be a powerful sense of emotion and collective energy as we are all in the same room together. The feeling might even be electric! But people at a concert are largely disparate individuals alone in a crowd having separate emotive and aesthetic experiences. If Sunday church or any other gathering of the faithful is like this, then it is incomplete.
Look, I’m an introvert, so it can be difficult for me to naturally engage with other people. I have to be more intentional than most. But no matter who we are naturally, Christianity makes us extroverted when we come together. We desperately need each other. Throughout the week we are like exiles in a strange land. When we gather, we reassure, encourage, and even warn each other with the gospel message of Jesus Christ – over and over again.
– Matt