This was the quote of the day on my Google home page this morning. At first glance I thought that it was just ridiculous, but the more I thought of it, the more I realized how this was not only the attitude of many outside of the church, but also of many within.
What is sad is that if it does not fit into our fast paced, technology centered, busy lives, it can't possibly be worth it. There are unfortunately many things that confessing Christians believe they could, and rather should, be doing with their Sunday mornings than spending time with the people of God in corporate worship. I realize I began addressing this last summer (here) but I am growing more and more concerned about it.
The picture is in fact much bigger. Bill's assertion relates to Sunday morning, but in reality what does our faith (I'm using this in lieu of religion as religion without faith is pointless indeed) call us to ... is faith just a microcosm of our busy schedules or is it life itself? If you answer that it is only a microcosm of life, then yes, it is a complete waste, it has no value beyond Sunday morning and so why go. Yes, there might be nice moral teaching or you might get to sing a song that you like or see people you've been meaning to talk to, but in reality, it is no more important than going to the movies or hanging out with your friends over a beer and watching the game. In fact, if it is only a part of my life that can be shelved when it is not convenient, then I would rather grab a cold one, kick back and enjoy the game.
But true faith is much more. It is about life. It's not just about Sunday mornings (or Sunday evenings or whenever you worship ... that is a totally different issue), but the whole day every day, every part of our life. It is about our work and our play, our time and our money, it is even about our relationships. I simply cannot reconcile a faith that demands only a portion of me. To some this can smack of fundamentalism, but in reality if someone only partially believes something, is it possible that they don't really believe it at all? If I am going to believe something and more importantly if my faith is going to be in Christ, then I must also love his church (even when it is tough). Christ and his church cannot be separated. I cannot choose to love the church and be a part of it only when it fits into my life. So I guess it comes down to whether or not whatever you have faith in actually has meaning for the rest of your life ... then maybe, particularly for my Christian brothers and sisters, Sunday morning might be worth a helluva lot more than we give it credit for.
