Simple Reminder of the Treasure of the Church

Scripture Verse that caught my attention today: Psalm 122:1 I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the LORD!”

Observation: It can be a very good thing to worship.

Application: Without a doubt, the Christian church in all its forms and denominations has many faults and I am one of them! If I may be so bold as to say so, if you are a member of a church, you’re one of her faults too! I am not the first to observe that churches are imperfect because they are made up of imperfect people.

But the church also has many treasures, chief among them being Jesus and the opportunity or, more accurately, ‘calling’ to worship him. In so doing we acknowledge before others and subtly remind ourselves that Christ Jesus is Lord and we are, well, NOT Lord.

I was reading a paper this morning from a trusted theologian, pastor, and friend. The paper shared of his faith journey and in particular his growing understanding that when we proclaim any message that somehow skips the depth of our need for Christ and/or what Christ has done, we are not proclaiming the Christian message at all. We may have provide a helpful tip or two about living, but that is little more than a band-aid carelessly placed above a penetrating wound deep within.

One benefit of the Lutheran church is that usually (but, unfortunately, not always!) the over-all message in worship is one that exposes the radical nature of our disease and the radical nature of the one Lord who indeed provides the cure. In short, we cannot save ourselves, but we can be saved. In fact, this saving is a once and for all daily process. But the weekly gathering in worship is where it all comes to a head. More precisely, it’s where we gather around the head of the church. No wonder he Psalmist declared long ago: “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the LORD!’”

Prayer: Lord, thank you for the church and for those within it who remind each other of why we gather and who we ultimately gather around. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

(Scripture Readings today included: Psalm 122 and 1 Corinthians 9, 10, & 11)