"Go to Church" -- Tim Phillips

 

The pandemic of 2020 caught all of us by surprise, but for pastors and elders it presented several difficult challenges for which few of us were really prepared. Many, for example, chose to shut down church services and record or livestream sermons and/or worship services. Our own session chose to shut down for 6 weeks, reopening the first Sunday in May. Knowing what I know now in 2021, I would have probably handled the situation quite differently (understanding that some might disagree with me here). However, this is not the focus of my blog article for this month. Rather, I want to discuss the current state of worship in our churches nearly 2 years later.

It should go without saying, at least among Reformed believers, that a high view of the Lord's Day is critical to Christianity, not only theologically, but especially practically. Romans 12:2 warns against being conformed to this world, and the Lord's Day (or Christian Sabbath; WCF 21.7), is great barometer for analyzing just how worldly the modern church has become in its thinking and its praxis. Sunday has, for many, become little more than a second Saturday. Many professing Christians will show up for the morning worship service -- as long as it is convenient for them to do so. The afternoon is often spent is doing exactly what the world likes to do -- engaging in the two great idols of American culture, entertainment and consumerism. And the evening worship service? That has long since gone the way of the dodo. As an example of this last issue, October 31st fell on a Sunday this year. Many local towns and communities in our area decided to celebrate Halloween on Sunday, rather than moving the activities to a different day of the week (such as Saturday the 30th). What did many local churches do? They followed right along, deciding to host Trunk-or-Treats and Fall Festivals on Sunday evenings. Keep in mind that most of these are also churches which long ago stopped having Sunday evening services -- and yet they managed to follow the world's schedule because the day happened to be Halloween. In the interest of "outreach," the Lord's Day took a back seat. These things should not be.

A recovery of the Lord's Day -- setting apart the day (not just an hour) for the worship of Almighty God -- is vital for a recovery of biblical Christianity in our country. But this brings me back to the point of my article and how it is related to the pandemic of 2020. Unintentionally, in many of our churches, we may have made it far easier and more convenient to neglect one of the central components of the Lord's Day by making it easier to miss worship. Since people can now stay home and watch a worship service on their smart device (just like watching TV in previous generations), it has created the illusion in the minds of some that they are "attending church," even if they never leave their homes on Sunday morning (at least to go to church).

Brothers and sisters, please hear me out: watching a video screen is NOT the same thing as worshiping with the saints. I understand there may be unusual circumstances which providentially hinder us from attending worship (e.g., illness or severe weather -- my wife once went into early labor with twins at 8 a.m. on a Sunday morning, and we both missed that Sunday morning service, but that was not a normal situation, and the outliers should not become excuses for altering the norm). We can be thankful for advances in technology and that we are able to reach people that we might not be able to otherwise. We can also be thankful that such technology can help reach those who, because of age and infirmity, are not longer able to attend church services on a regular basis. Here, I am thinking of a dear lady in our own congregation, nearing the age of 100 and almost unable to walk anymore, who faithfully watches our worship service every Sunday morning that she can. If you were to ask her whether she would rather be watching from a bed or being present in the pew, she would say the latter without hesitation (I know, because she's told me multiple times). On the other hand, a 30 or 40-year-old in good health to stay home because of a desire to "sleep in" or "watch church in my pajamas" should cause us all to lament (along with a firm admonishment from the church leadership). There may not be a physical sickness present in such cases, but there is almost certainly a sickness of the soul. Many of us may reach a point later in our lives where we may not physically be able to attend worship services. Now is not the time to take that for granted. We need to gather with the saints while we are able to.

One of the more astonishing questions I heard asked during the early days of the pandemic was whether the sacrament of the Lord's Supper could be celebrated "virtually." This is one of those places where there should be no doubt as to the right answer (there is a reason it's also referred to as "communion"). Just as we are told in the Fourth Commandment to "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy," Paul reminds the Corinthian church what they should be doing during the Lord's Supper:

But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse. For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part I believe it. For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you. Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk. ...  So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. (1 Corinthians 11:17-21, 33; emphasis added)

No fewer than four times in that passage, Paul mentions the Corinthians gathering together to partake of the Lord's Supper (and to worship in general). I fear we have become so hyper-individualized in our modern day (and social media has contributed heavily to this), that now even professing Christians think they can be part of Christ's church while at the same time intentionally cutting themselves off from the body of Christ. I don't think this is a brand new phenomenon (it's probably been brewing for quite a while), but 2020 has made it even more evident.

All is not bad, however. With the shutdowns and restarts of 2020, we have gradually seen many return to church. Some who had become slack in their attendance have come to seen the great benefit of meeting with other believers on the Lord's Day, and this is a good thing. As I often tell people, sometimes we are like the Prodigal Son and have to be brought low enough to eat pig food before we come to our senses and repent. Some of us ate a lot of pig food in 2020. Hopefully it doesn't get that bad ever again, but it might. In the meantime, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, while you have the opportunity, go to church. Don't go to church because it's a social obligation or because you want to feel good about yourself. Go because you love the Lord Jesus Christ, because you want to hear the promises of God and respond to them with praise, and because you love the brethren and want to gather with them. But please -- go to church.