This has been the question on my mind for a while.  I don’t know yet if I have a satisfying answer to the question, but here are some of the things I’ve been thinking about:  My main objection to going to church is that can’t I not do all that stuff on my own and do it the way I like it as opposed to the way it is dished out Sunday after Sunday?  And honestly, there are Sundays were I don’t want to meet people at church, why go through the trouble?  What if I’m tired of worship music and all the ceremony?  “Well,” you might say, “Gav, you have a problem here.  Doesn’t God want us to go to church?”  I would reply that yes, I’d say God wants us to go to church, but why?  I know this seems like a silly question, and maybe it is, but it is what I’ve been grappling with recently.  Today while reading Ephesians the thought of my lousy church attendance popped in my head.  This verse caught my attention:

“‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’  Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5: 14-16.

I began to think that maybe my heart and mind had become dull to the issue at stake.  That although my objections to worshiping with a community of believers (the church) on the sabbath were legitimate to the degree of my worldly thinking, they are not formidable objections from a spiritual point of view.  In the verses preceding these in Ephesians there is talk of walking in the light and not taking part in the unfruitful works of darkness.   I think that by going to church we are coming into contact with the ultimate reality of God and thus walking in the light.  This happens as we celebrate Christ’s life.  I think I’ve been more or less asleep to ultimate concerns recently, because I for some reason or another most of the time when I’m not involved in church I think about myself more than I think of God.  When going to church, God is more likely the center of attention, which is where He belongs rightfully (“keeping your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith”(Hebrews 12: 2)).   So this Sunday I will make an effort to wake up and go to church.