Posted by Dena on August 18, 2003, at 12:18:51
In reply to what's in it for me?, posted by rayww on August 18, 2003, at 1:10:15
I know why I go to church - sometimes the reasons vary from week to week.
This week, the Sunday after losing my baby, I went because the people in my church are my family. I belonged with family this week. They surrounded me with love, prayers & hugs & grieved with me, my husband & our children. They felt pain with us, let go of lost dreams with us, & reminded us that life goes on, that we hope in Someone who has overcome the suffering of this world.
I go to church because it's a practical way of getting together with others who share the same faith. We walk the same walk, we speak the same language & we're in this life of faith together. We encourage each other, lift each other up when one of us is down.
Because we believe in the same God, & have Him living inside of us, we get together physically because we are united spiritually: we are One Body. We come together to honor God on the day of Sabbath, to rest from our daily labors & to honor Him.
We come, having examined our own hearts, asking Him to cleanse all that is defiling, asking Him to unite us together as we focus on Him above all else.
We sacrifice our own concerns, desires, problems & distractions, in order to give Him praise & worship with our music, words & actions. We give Him our burdens, knowing that only He can carry them, while giving us His comfort in exchange.
We hear His word, & receive it as personally as if He had written each of us a love letter. We pray for each other, as well as praying for the needs of the hurting world around us.
We affirm our faith with ancient creeds, repeating the same words spoken throughout the ages. We renew our commitment to the One we can't see, although we've all experienced His life-changing presence.
We remember His sacrifice for us, as we receive Him, mysteriously, supernaturally, through the common elements of bread & wine.
We leave our gathering as changed as we've let ourselves be.
I go to church because I want to be with others who love Him as much as I do. I go because He tells me I need it even more than I need air to breathe & food to eat. I go because I trust Him to meet me there, as He promises.
I go even when I don't feel like it, when I'm too tired, too angry, too sad, too empty, too frustrated, too busy...
I go because He tells me "not to forsake the assembly of the bretheren."
I go because He made me to worship Him, to be in an intimate relationship with Him, & because He created me to be in communion with the others who have responded to His calling.
I go because it's the closest thing to my true home (heaven) on this planet.
Shalom, Dena
poster:Dena
thread:251749
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/faith/20030530/msgs/251839.html