BLOGGING TOWARD SUNDAY…

I had a conversation recently with a man about the importance of attending church. There wasn’t anything unusual about it…the standard invitation and encouragement to be here with us on Sunday mornings, but then he asked me a question I’ve never been asked before. It was so basic, so frighteningly fundamental, and it caught me so off guard, I hardly knew what to say.

What he said was basically this, “What good would it do me to spend an hour or so every week down at the church singing and praying? Why bother?”

Why bother? How would you answer that, those of you who regularly bother to drag yourselves out of bed on a day when you could sleep in, and bring yourselves here for an hour of singing and praying? What would you say? What reasons would you give for why you bother?

Well, I’ve had a little time to think about it now, and here’s what I would have said to him if I’d been quick enough on my feet.

Why bother? Why worship? Well, why do you kiss someone you love? Why do you send roses, spend time picking out just the right card, put on your best suit? Why do you long for closeness, for touch, for the sound of a voice? To someone on the outside, all that looks kind of ridiculous, doesn’t it? Stuff that really wouldn’t do anyone much good. But that’s exactly the problem, isn’t it? An outside observer just wouldn’t get it. All those silly things only make sense to people who are in love! And worship is like that…our response to God’s love affair with us!

Filed under: Blogging Toward Sunday