Rhythms: Corporate Worship
Luke 4:14-21
14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. 16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” 20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Over the last six weeks we have taken some time to think about the habits, routines, patterns and rhythms we have in our lives and have tried to think through how we can have the kinds of rhythms that orientate us towards Jesus and to one another more. We finish our series by exploring the rhythm of corporate worship.
Now, straight away, I want to say that I realise that I’m maybe preaching to the choir by talking about the importance of corporate worship in the context of a church blog. Surely, the last group of people I need to tell about the importance of corporate worship are the people who have opted to read this. There may be some truth to this. However, I do think it’s good for all of us, myself included, to think about and reflect on why we go to church and what our attitude towards it should be.
In our passage we’re told Jesus had a custom of going to the synagogue on the sabbath day. Now, while synagogue and church aren’t the same thing, it does nevertheless show that Jesus placed a high value on regularly attending corporate worship. The question is, do you place a high value on it?
There was a time in this country where attending church was expected and you had to have a good reason to not go. However, that has switched. Now, the expectation is that you don’t go to church and it’s viewed as a bit strange if you do. This forces us to really think about what the purpose is for going. For some it might be the community. For others it might be that they feel better when they go. For others still it might be that there’s a certain amount of guilt when they don’t go. For some it’s a massive priority. For others, they’ll go if there’s nothing else on. These reasons are fine as far as they go. However, they do miss out on perhaps the key reason why church is important.
The fact is, when God’s people gather together to hear from his word, to sing praise to him and to encourage one another, God is glorified. Church isn’t like parkrun or a sports team where the only ones involved are those you engage in the activity. First and foremost, church is directed towards God. As God’s people gather and fix their eyes on him, they reflect a little bit of eternity where God’s people will have their eyes fixed on him for all eternity.
While I acknowledge it doesn’t always seem like it, church is one of the primary places where we get a bit of a foretaste of heaven. As people from different backgrounds, cultures and traditions all come together to give their focus and attention to God, we are introduced to God’s plan for eternity.
If you’re anything like me, you’ll find this very challenging. I can’t honestly remember the last time I skipped out the door to church because I was excited to catch a glimpse of heaven. More often than not I find myself preoccupied with whatever I have to do in the service or keen to make sure I remember to talk to that person about that particular thing. That stuff isn’t bad but it isn’t the point. So let me ask you, what is your attitude towards church? How much of a priority is it for you? And does your motivation to go reflect the foretaste of heaven that church is?
Richard Barber
