Easter Every Sunday?

"There will be a day when watchmen cry out on the hills of Ephraim, 'Come, let us go up to Zion, to the Lord our God.'" —Jeremiah 31:6

“Can’t we do something besides going to church every Sunday?” said little Johnny to his dad. Sure, son, what would you like to do this Sunday? “Oh, I just want to stay home and play video games and stuff,” said Johnny. “But what would God think?” replied his father.
“I’m sure God will be ok without us, Dad!”

Isn’t that close to what we adults even think, whenever we decide to do something else besides get up and get ourselves and others in our family ready so we can all go to church? You’ve heard the story about the mother who woke up her son one Sunday morning saying, “Come on now its time to get up and get ready for church.” “Aw, do I have too! I really want to stay in bed and sleep this morning,” he said. “No, you can’t stay home now,” his mom scolded, “after all you’re the pastor.”

Yes, even the pastor has to make an effort to get to church some times. And, you know what? God would be ok without us, too.

But will we be ok without God? That’s the real question. It’s not like we’re doing Him some favor by going out of our way to be in His House of worship on Sunday morning. Oh, He misses us when we’re not there, at least He misses us being there where He wants us to be: in fellowship with our neighbors and friends in Christ, in thanksgiving and praise which ultimately does us more good than it does Him and in the Bible study that helps us to grow in understanding the role of faith in our lives.

What happens when we’re not there is what happens to us. It’s what we’re missing that feeds our soul and nourishes our spirit. It’s what keeps us alive and renews our sense of purpose and our focus on God’s love for us, and how we can show his love to others.

An old English children’s poem, illustrated with hands clasped and fingers inside except the index fingers raised and touching each other, went like this:

Here's the church, and here's the steeple
Open the door and see all the people.
Here's the parson going upstairs,
And here he is saying his prayers.

The thumbs together were the doors and when opened the inside fingers represented the people. But the way I learned it as a child left out the parson and ended with all the fingers outside the clasped together hands:

Here’s the church and here’s the steeple
Open the door but where are all the people?

Sometimes after Easter and when school is out that later picture seems all too real. This year’s Easter service at Trinity was filled with people and it was a joy to share in the worship with all who were there. But from the time of the Apostles after Jesus rose from the tomb every Sunday became an Easter celebration of the new life we have been given in Christ.

If you were to ask someone who starved himself to death why he didn’t eat, first he couldn’t answer because he is dead, but if he could wouldn’t it be silly for him to say, “I’m sure the cook was ok without me!” No, we must eat for our bodies to live and we must worship that we may live with Christ in our lives. Just as you wouldn’t unnecessarily miss a good meal, why would you likewise miss going to church? Sounds like a “no-brainer” to me, what about you?