Take Eat, This is... Cap'n Crunch???

It didn’t make the cut for last week’s sermon, but I’ve been thinking about our epistle reading from Hebrews a bit this week. This reading gives preachers the chance to correct flimsy cliches like, “The Church is not a building, but a people;” “Don’t go to church, be the Church;” “My faith is not about rituals, but a personal relationship with Jesus.” Though these lines may have a sniff of truth in them, such sentiments fail to grasp the rich and profound importance of God’s sheep gathering as one body around His Word and altar to be served by their Good Shepherd Himself. After all, if gathering for worship is not foundational for what it means to “be the Church,” why does the Holy Spirit admonish us to, “Stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near?” (Heb. 10:25)

Despite the nonsense spewed forth by online memes and virtual, uninformed theologians, the scriptures depict the Church as “people gathering” for preaching, praying, sacrament, and service (Acts 2:42-47). The imagery of a worship service in scripture is not one of consumers being entertained, but of God’s people being gathered around the Throne of the Lamb, joining the heavenly chorus of saints and angels to sing God’s praise and receive Christ’s benefits (see Revelation 4-7). The church is not a manmade religious institution. It is the very place God instituted and promises to dwell with and bless His people. The writer of Hebrews reminds us that you cannot “be the Church” unless you go to church. Going to church, after all, is more about what Christ does for us than it is about what we do, do not do, or even are. To be the Church is nothing else than to be sheep fed and nourished by the Good Shepherd. The life of faith depends on Christ feeding us with His Word and Sacraments. We are completely passive. We purely receive. We are uplifted, instructed, and equipped. Church is where our Lord beautifully, intimately, and profoundly distributes the forgiveness won on the cross to His sinners-turned-saints in the sanctuary.
 
To be fair, I empathize with the temptations. Believe me… more than you probably know.   Don your PJ’s, grab a bowl of Cap’n Crunch, sit on your couch, and do church via a screen. Or sleep in.  Or go golfing instead? Church attendance is not exclusively about numbers, hitting an arbitrary ‘100’ mark and patting ourselves on the back. It is about taking advantage of this incredible invitation from our Creator, to meet with and be fed by Him directly.  We are not to “neglect this gathering” because it is within the Body where Christ, who paid the full atonement price with His blood, reigns and distributes His gifts which sustain us into life everlasting. Good stuff. Pretty big deal. Gathering before the Altar of God, with our brothers and sisters, is the very work of God to sustain us into life everlasting. That is why we go to church.
 
"When church becomes optional to you, it will become unnecessary to your children.” (unknown)
 
Devotion taken from and adapted from Bob Hiller at 1517.org.