Here's why we gather.

I love the Church! I love when we gather together and can worship together and seriously reflect on God's Word and apply it to our lives. Surely, it is a lifter of my soul!

Our in-person meeting together feels so fluid to me these days. Will the pandemic subside or increase? Will we have to wear masks for months on end? Will we have to meet completely online again? Or will we be able to gather with more people soon?

Questions I have no answer to today. But I sure was encouraged to read the following quote that Tim Challis posted from a booklet by Gunner Gundersen’s, "What If I Don’t Feel Like Going to Church?"
Gunner said this about the gathering of the saints:


At all times and in all places, the gathering of the saints is like fresh rain sent by God to strengthen His people. Christians gather to worship not because it might be helpful if all the stars align; or if our leaders plan the service just right; or if everyone smiles at us with the perfect degree of sincerity, handles the small talk seamlessly, and engages us with just the right depth of conversation.

We don’t gather to be cool, because we’re not. We don’t gather because there are just enough people our age, because that’s not the point. We don’t gather because we’re safe, because in many places around the world, we’re not. We don’t gather because it’s easy or convenient, because we don’t follow a Savior who carried a pillow but a cross.

Instead we gather because we’re saved. We gather because we’re forgiven. We gather because we are one. We gather because we’re redeemed, reborn, and commissioned to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. We gather because the God we’re worshiping has instituted our gathering as the main way He matures and trains and comforts us. It’s not just when the songs or prayers or sermons touch our souls right where we need to be touched. We meet because God builds up His people through our meeting every time, in every place, without fail, no matter how we feel. Like rain in the fields, it’s how our gatherings work.


That's good, isn't it? We need the church. It's easy to slip away and be anonymous if we want. But an anonymous church member is an oxymoron. It makes no biblical sense. We need one another.

Don't be a stranger - engage just how the Lord has called us to.

I love you church!