Thank You For Attending Church (May 28, 2006)

I just want to say thank you to everybody who went to church this past Sunday.

You didn’t go as a favor to me, or for the pastor of whatever church you attend. That’s fine - thank you anyway.

Some of you had to overcome real obstacles to go to church. Maybe you worked 60 hours last week, and Sunday morning was when you really wanted to rest. Maybe your pastor preaches long, slow-paced sermons that bore the drool out of you. Maybe you can’t stand the music - they sing old hymns but you like contemporary, or vice versa. Maybe your family makes it hard for you to get away on Sunday (that is when they schedule their brunches!). Maybe, heaven forbid, some demon with the title “Reverend” abused you years ago and you never wanted to step foot in a church again.

You had lots of reasons not to go, but you went, and I thank you. May I tell you a good thing that your attendance accomplished?

It encouraged a minister. On the afternoon of Sunday, May 21, someone asked me how my day had gone. I said, “OK,” but then listed by name about a dozen people who for whatever reason were not in church that morning, and said that I would have felt a lot better if they had been there. The next Sunday evening, May 28, someone else asked me the same question and I said, “Real good! Sunday School and the Worship service were about as full as they get.”

Did you know that you rejoiced a minister’s heart when you attended? If not, know it now. I think I can speak for all ministers in this. Every warm body in the pew is a sentry against a demoralizing spirit that seeks to incapacitate a man of God.

I must be careful here. I don’t want people to go to church to please me (or any pastor), or because they fear a clergyman’s disapproval if they don’t go. If I induce guilt in those who neglect worship because they discourage me (or “reward” attenders with assurances that they delight me), then I have taken dangerous a step toward spiritual corruption. Church is not about me. Forget me, forget all ministers.
Go to church because you love God. Go because you want to express that love by obeying his command to “neglect not the assembling of yourselves together” (Hebrews 10:25). Go because you fear God, and fear the consequences of denying him your part of the collective worship that is his due.

And for my very small, insignificant part, thank you.