It's Sunday

And I am rejoicing because today I will get to attend church.  Lately I've been thinking about church a little differently.  I have attended the same church all of my life except for when I was away for college.  A large number of my extended family also attend this church.  I've been around so long that the folks that aren't actually related to me seem like family, too!  As a result, I have always considered myself to be majorly accountable when it comes to church attendance.  If I missed a service it wouldn't just be my mom who would want to know why.  That has made it hard for me to sometimes distinguish my motive for being in the pew.  Do I go to church because I want to worship my Lord or do I go to church because I feel like I should in order to not disappoint people I love?

Just a couple of weeks ago almost all of us experienced the Massive Winter Storm of 2011.  The storm blew in at the beginning of the week & I knew almost right away that Wednesday night Prayer Meeting would be cancelled.  I didn't feel like that was too big of a deal.  Wednesday nights can be extremely hectic for us for some reason so it was nice to not have to hurry to be at church.  Then Saturday rolled around.  We were all in the process of digging out & trying to melt the ice & trying to get back to normal.  Our pastor had to make the call to once again cancel services.  All around town ice melt was sold out & there was just too much ice to clear from the parking lot for it to be safe for us to get in the building.  That phone call gave me a little pause.  I was frustrated; I was maybe a little angry.  Mike wanted to know why I was all worked up.  He thought it was a very reasonable decision considering the age of many of our congregation.  He was right, of course.  As I mulled it over that evening I realized that my flash of emotion was bred out of the disappointment that there would be no church the next day.  Church attendance is more than a routine; it is more than fellowship & accountability.  All of those things are involved, but I realized that more than anything else I was missing the worship.  The music that is designed to prepare our hearts to adore God.  The Scripture reading & preaching that is designed to draw my heart to my God & teach me how to serve Him better.

So today I'm headed out the door to church, not to please my mother or my dear friend Janet or my sweet husband Mike or anybody else.  I'm headed to church to worship my Lord & Savior Jesus. 

I was glad when they said to me,

 "Let us go to the house of the LORD!"

Psalm 122:1