churches, we may have made it far easier and more convenient to neglect one of the central components of the Lord’s Day by making it easier to miss worship. Since people can now stay home and watch a worship service on their smart device (just like watching TV in previous generations), the illu- sion exists in the minds of some that they are “attending church,” even if they never leave their homes on Sunday morning (at least to go to church). It is no longer only the Sunday evening service that has disappeared. The Sunday morning service is now starting to disappear as well. Brothers and sisters, please hear me out: watching a video screen is NOT
the same thing as worshiping with the saints. I understand there may be unusual circumstances which providentially hinder us from attending wor- ship, e.g., illness or severe weather. My wife once went into early labor with twins at 8 a.m. on a Sunday morning. We both missed that Sunday morn- ing service, but that was not a normal situation, and the outliers should not become excuses for altering the norm. We can be thankful for advances in technology and that we are able to reach people that we might not be able to otherwise. We can also be thankful that such technology can help reach those whom, because of age and infirmity, are no longer able to at- tend church services on a regular basis. Here, I am thinking of a dear lady in our congregation who passed away just a few weeks shy of her 99th birth- day. She was almost unable to walk anymore, but she faithfully watched our worship service nearly every Sunday morning. If you had asked her whether she would rather have been present in the pew, she would have said yes without hesitation. I know because she told me multiple times. On the other hand, a 30 or 40-year-old in good health staying home because of a desire to “sleep in” or “watch church in my pajamas” should cause us all to lament. That person deserves a firm admonishment from the church leader- ship. There may not be a physical sickness present in such cases, but there is almost certainly a sickness of the soul. Many of us may reach a point later in our lives where we may not physically be able to attend worship services. Now is not the time to take that for granted. We need to gather with the saints while we are able to. One of the more astonishing questions I heard during the early days of
the pandemic was whether the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper could be celebrated “virtually.” This is one of those places where there should be no doubt as to the right answer. There is a reason it’s also referred to as “com- munion”. Just as we are told in the Fourth Commandment to “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” Paul reminds the Corinthian church what they should be doing during the Lord’s Supper: “But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come
together not for the better but for the worse. For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you, and in part, I believe it. For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you. Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk.... So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.” (1 Corinthians 11:17-21, 33; emphasis added) No fewer than four times in that passage, Paul mentions the Corinthians
March/April 2022
gathering together to partake of the Lord’s Supper (and to worship in general). I fear we have become so hyper-individualized in our mod- ern-day (and social media has con- tributed heavily to this) that now even professing Christians think they can be part of Christ’s church while at the same time intentionally cutting themselves off from the body of Christ. I don’t think this is a brand new phenomenon it’s probably been brewing for quite a while, but 2020 has made it even more evident. All is not bad, however. With the shutdowns and restarts of 2020, we have gradually seen many return to church. Some who had become slack in their attendance have come to see the great benefit of meeting with other believers on the Lord’s Day, and this is a good thing. As I often tell people, sometimes we are like the prodigal son and have to be brought low enough to eat pig food before we come to our senses and repent. And some of us ate a lot of pig food in 2020. Hopefully, it doesn’t get that bad ever again, but it might. In the meantime, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, while you have the opportunity, go to church. Don’t go to church be- cause it’s a social obligation or be- cause you want to feel good about yourself. Go because you love the Lord Jesus
Christ, because you
want to hear the promises of God and respond to them with praise, and because you love the brethren and want to gather with them. But please -- go to church.?
Reverend Tim Phillips is the pastor of Brighton Presbyterian Church in Brighton, TN.
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