The Church

I frequently have conversations with one of my children about why we go to church.  Too often it disintegrates into "You live in our house, we go to church as a family, so you go to church with us".  A valid reason, yet it doesn't really reach his heart.  

It seems that there is a wave of apathy when it comes to church.  I know numerous professing Christians who seem to think regular church attendance is optional.  I can outline a dozen reasons why we should gather together to worship and fellowship.  But I don't think this is an argument of the mind, it's of the heart.

We, the church are described as the Bride of Christ. In Revelation 19 all of history will culminate with the marriage supper of the Lamb when Christ takes his Bride: " Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready."  Brian Habig & Les Newsom in The Enduring Community say Christians typically think that the moral of this story (the wedding analogy) goes something like this: "So we need to love Jesus just as this young man loved his bride..."

But

"The point is this: When we begin in our hearts to look down the aisle of our own salvation and see Christ, standing there with anticipation, knees buckling under the weight of the beauty that He has created and sustained, with tears flowing at the thought of the delight that He takes in us - only then will we begin corporately to be the Church that God designed for His Son, the Groom.  Only then will we find the courage to sacrifice for our churches in the way in which we are called to sacrifice. Only then will we find the patience to put up with each other with grace and forgiveness.  Only then will we find the humility to accept into our fellowship the poor, the hurting, the downtrodden, and the broken."

What greater delight can we have than gathering with the beloved of God, and rejoicing together, praising together, acknowledging together that we are loved and treasured by our Creator and Savior?  Thats what we do on Sunday morning. And if we really get it, our hearts are so full that they can't but overflow, moving us to love well those around us.  Whether in our church, our community, or the world beyond.

Yes we do have a personal relationship with God, yes I can know His delight in me and worship Him individually.  My own little voice raised to glorify Him may be sweet, but my voice raised with my church body is powerful.  And this is where God has placed us, in His Body - the Bride of Christ.