Piety

Matthew 23:5-6 ESV

They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place f honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues…

The brisk air on my face, breath crystalizing in the starlit night, a shovel in my hand, not the way I normally start Sunday morning. While shoveling eight to fifteen inches of snow, depending on the drift, an individual is given a great amount of time to pontificate. The Wednesday previous I had noted how beautiful the snow was and God’s grace to humanity in that, something that did not exist before the flood, and therefore before the fall, God would mercifully be both beautiful and fun to play in.

This morning my thoughts were consumed with a different question, “Why?” It is an interesting question that I am asked to tedium by my children. I had already cleared my drive to the street the previous night and now was faced with clearing from my drive to the path that the faithful city workers had labored until three in the morning, to clear in the road. I had already been asked multiple times if church was going to be canceled. I had been informed by numerous people they wouldn’t be able to make it, and been faithfully informed of other churches that had chosen to close. To all this I simply took the information, and continued in the same direction I had planned, for those unaware one of my many faults is that I don’t change course well, even when it would be prudent to do so.

So, I woke up extra early and started shoveling, with the brisk nights air as my soul companion. Yet, the question that persisted to invade my thoughts demanding an articulate answer was, brief and forceful, “Why?” It had been a long night with a sick kid and a fussy baby, the warm bed was excruciating to leave in exchange for the bibs and a shovel. My body, and mind wanted to know, why they had forsaken such creature comforts. The arguments were well thought and aptly made. “Going to church does not make you more saved. Would you put others in danger to be seen as more faithful than the other pastors or churches? Is this your way of showing you actually work for a living?” The relentless scrape of the shovel matched scoop for scoop with demands for, “Why?”

The answer actually comes in the form of a question, in true Christ following style, “Why do we go to church?” The weather is inconsequential to the answer to that question. If we go to church simply that others might see us as pious and faithful, then that is why we must go even if two feet of snow is on the ground. If our church must be the most dedicated then it MUST remain open at all costs. If I go to church simply because it is my job and I am a hard worker, then to maintain my identity I must be in church on Sunday. The answer to the question, has as many answers as churches have attenders, but only one answer matters. Why does the bible say we attend church? The bible is clear that the church has always assembled, for the breaking of bread, teaching of Gods word, and fellowship. Christ rose on the first day and the Spirit fell, on the first day (Lev 23:15-16, Acts 2:1), it was also early on both those days. The Church has always gathered on the first day in a special way to worship, even as they gather through out the week as well.

Yet, the bible paints a picture of people gathering not out of compulsion but out of joy and desire to draw near to God and one another. Much as a bride groom needs not command to inform him what actions are desirable on his wedding night so to do Christians desire fellowship on Sunday. Yes, circumstances make what I desire unattainable at times, but I dare say a young man waking a couple hours early to scoop snow a great providential hindrance in light of Christian endurance and love for this day through the churches two millennia of Christian history.  Church is not an act of piety, but rather an act of desire, a longing for fellowship with the bride of Christ. A knowledge that something special was missed and an opportunity lost if not attended.

I have heard many good and right reasons why God, in his providence, hindered his saints from gathering Sunday morning. I do wonder if those same reasons hold for Sunday evening. If the church does not meet at one building what hindered it from meeting at some other time through out the day in smaller numbers at houses doted throughout our communities. Gathering saints from different theological ilk to fellowship and read his word. Often, I am convicted, it is mere lack of desire.

So, why didn’t this particular pastor cancel “church”? Simply, I thought I would see more of the Church this way. Scared that if I canceled, I wouldn’t see any of Christ’s bride that day, and perhaps not until the following Sunday.

CRUCE, DUM SPIRO, FIDO