Church

           Ok, so it’s Sunday morning and the alarm has just gone off. You’ve spent all week getting up early for work, or staying up late for work; whatever the situation, how nice it would be to just stay in bed and have some time for yourself. I know for me personally, the very first coherent thought of my Sunday morning a lot of times is; “Lord, please give me the strength to get my lazy butt out of bed this morning because quite honestly; I don’t want to!” That’s one of my first coherent thoughts. Usually my first thought at the sound of the alarm is; “I don’t want to go to school mommy!” But that just brings up a whole other basket of my issues.

            For so many of us, and quite honestly for most of my life; church is viewed as a chore, a have too. Similar to going to work, it’s just something I have to do. Maybe you’ve have been told you have to go to church or you’ll go to hell. Maybe you go to church not because you want to be there, but you are just trying to set a good example for your children, and you really aren’t sure why. Maybe it’s a social expectation, all your friends go to church, or maybe the people you work with go to church; it could be your neighbors and you just want to fit into the social group. Maybe you go because your parents make you; or you go because your kids make you. There are so many BAD reasons we go to church and I want to help you break that mindset and help to give you one that will hopefully change your life!

 Communion

           I want to take just a few minutes and remove the traditions and the “religion” from the word communion for just a minute. Merriam-Webster defines communion as: an act or instance of sharing; intimate fellowship or rapport. Communion comes from the Latin communis which means mutual participation. Webster gives synonyms of: rapport, fellowship and rapprochement. Rapprochement meaning to have cordial relations; from the Latin appropiare which translates to bring together.

            I think that for most of my life and for so many of us; we have got the ritual down of going to church and taking communion, but we have missed out on the part of being in communion. I want to challenge you to begin to evaluate why it is you are going to church. Evaluate what it is you are searching for. Not what it is you want or not getting from the church; but what it is you can bring to church in your communion.

            Church is about communion; communion is about relationship. Church is the ultimate opportunity to gather as a body of Christ in unity and support; in fellowship and relationship. Church is the ultimate expression and vision of family as our Heavenly Father designed it!

 Attitude

            Boy! There’s a word that will cause every one’s butts to tighten…attitude! I’m just going to make a brief statement and then I’m going to move on to giving you a right attitude about church. You determine your attitude; it is a decision. A decision you make. You can blame it on your ethnicity (I used to blame my temper on being Irish). You can blame it on your upbringing, or on your environment, or on your circumstances all you want. But until you accept that your attitude is your decision, your attitude will never change.

            So here is a different attitude towards church: How about church as the perfect, weekly family reunion. Not like the family reunion’s that my wife and I have avoided for years; but real, honest, open family reunions. I look forward to getting up on Sunday morning and going to a reunion with my Christian family! After working all week with many that have no faith in Christ or if they are professing it, they sure aren’t walking it! I look forward to seeing my Christian brothers and sisters that I haven’t seen in a week; hearing about their pain’s and their joy’s, their struggles and their triumphs! I look forward to sharing with those whom I genuinely care about and they genuinely care about me. I look forward to the relationships.

And as an added bonus I get praise and worship with those that I am in communion with; to sing, to pray, to gather as one body in Christ. And if that isn’t enough…I get to hear from an anointed teacher that is going to share with me wisdom from God’s Word and help me to better understand my Heavenly Father, His son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit; while still helping me to understand my place in this world and my place in His body.  

 I look forward to going to Church; to spend time in communion with fellow Christians who are all searching for a greater relationship with Christ while still learning to navigate life; with an attitude of joy, excitement and anticipation of what is to come!

 I pray that we all constantly evaluate why we go to church. That we are all able to put church in God’s perspective; that we are able to evaluate not only what we are getting out of church but what we are bringing to church. May the Holy Spirit guide us, lead us and teach us as we strive to discover what it is to be in church. -Amen