I LIke to Go to Church! {Pew Ponderings}

"Do you know how exciting it is to be here this morning?"

Those were Bro. Gary's words just before the sermon on a recent Sunday, and as he said them, I couldn't help but nod and smile.

I'd been excited all morning. It was the first Sunday, if I was calculating correctly, since June 1 that all six of us had actually made it to Sunday morning worship together. That's a highly unusual situation for us...an odd combination of illness, my mom having a minor accident, and our "big kids" needing to be at our "old church" one Sunday. 

Most of those weeks, I was among those absent.  My main goal for the weekend was to get to church all day Sunday myself, and for the entire family to make it as well. 

And we had.  And I was excited.

Bro. Gary wasn't referring it being exciting just to those of us who'd been out for a while, though. And he wasn't referring to what many would think of as an "exciting" church service.

We're a small church. We sing hymns with piano accompaniment. There is no smoke, no light show, no "entertainment".  We don't even have a choir (yet! :))  Our focus is on true worship, and the preaching of Truth from God's Word.

So where's the excitement, you may ask?

True worship, even in its simplest form, is exciting.  Hearing the truth of the Word preached and sung is, in and of itself, exciting.

Or it should be. 

That same morning, I had posted this quote from Paul David Tripp on Facebook:

Corporate worship is not meant to be a burdensome duty, but a gift from the God of grace who welcomes us to come to Him again and again.

The God of the Universe invites...commands...us to come into His presence and worship, together, in fellowship with other believers.

That's exciting!

The God of the Universe has given us a letter...His very own words to us...and charged preachers to preach and Christ-followers to listen.

That's exciting!

Many years ago, I learned a little song in preschool Sunday School..."I like to go to church. I like to go to church.  I like to learn of Jesus there, I like to go to church."  

And then "I like to go to church.  I like to go to church.  I like the happy songs we sing, I like to go to church."

And I have liked to go to church ever since. :) 

(And I just have to say...recently I saw on Facebook a photo of my 2-year-old class Sunday School teacher and my 3-year-old class Sunday School teacher doing mission work together in Romania!  These two dear ladies had such a huge impact on my learning to love church and God's Word, and now so many, many years later they are serving the Lord doing missions on the other side of the world!  What beautiful examples of a lifetime of faithful service. :))

I know you may be saying, "That's a sweet little song, but..."  I know, it's not always quite that simple.  Churches aren't perfect, and things get complicated.  But really and truly, I think in some ways, we just need to get back to that little song.  We need to decide that Christ loves the Church...His bride...and gave Himself for her....and we are going to love her, too.  

Because that's exciting. 

Do you like to go to church? Is it exciting to you to be in God's house? 

Please tell us about it in the comments!

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