Everybody loves a good excuse.
Seeing people in a mall in the week after they have missed a Sunday service can be interesting for any minister. Here are a few excuses:
• It was very cold, it was raining, I woke up too late.
• I had a bad week and needed a break.
• Friends arrived just as we were about to come to church.
The list can go on for pages. I have to ask myself, would any of the above excuses satisfy the principal of a school or an employer?
But is going to church really important? I can watch a sermon on TV or listen to Radio Pulpit. Isn’t it true that some people go to church for the wrong reasons – duty, fear or just routine?
Yes, a sermon on TV or listening to Radio Pulpit on your way to the mall is great, but being in church is different.
When our children were overseas, one in Norway and the other on the Isle of Jersey, it was great to phone them, sms then and Skype them. But I am so glad that now we can have lunch around the dining room table, watch rugby together and splash in the pool as a family. It is different.
Yes, we have had arguments; yes, none of us is perfect, but we love each other and it is great being together. Maybe it is a heart thing. If we love God we would make excuses to be in church, not excuses to miss church. For me, Sunday morning is one of the highlights of the week.
PS. Your church misses you.
