July 2015 – Pastor Anthony’s Letter

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

With the typical decline in worship attendance during the summer months, I thought it might be helpful to share with you why going to church every week is important to me (and not just because it is my job). I grew up going to church every week without really knowing why we went. It was just what we did. Now today, many young people (and even older people) are so busy that they have to prioritize life, and things that don’t appear important get cut.

Let me ask you, what really matters when it comes to worship? Is it the start time, the day of the week, where you sit, or the type of music that is played? Or is it about Jesus and coming to hear the Word of God? Christian worship is not about making us feel good or satisfying our desire to hear a good hymn…it is all about Jesus. We come each week to worship to be reminded (because it is easy to forget) about the hope that we have through Jesus. Through Jesus (and the waters of baptism), we are promised that this life is not all there is – that even though we die, we will live. We have hope! We have a future with God! We also receive full and complete forgiveness of all of our sins when we come to worship. Guilt is a terrible thing to carry with us and when someone actually says that they forgive us, the guilt that we carry is finally removed. You can only carry so much guilt in your life until it becomes too burdensome to carry on. So we gather for worship to receive God’s forgiveness through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We do so by following his commandment to eat and drink. When we eat and drink we physically receive God’s forgiveness and love; both of which are unconditional.

If someone sits in your pew, who cares. If the worship time gets changed at your church, who cares. If you worship on another day of the week, who cares. As long as you are hearing God’s Word proclaimed about the hope we having in Christ Jesus, and you are receiving God’s forgiveness through the sacrament of his body and blood, then it doesn’t matter when you worship, as long as you are worshipping. In the coming weeks, we will be talking more about the importance of worshipping and receiving communion. Until then, blessings to you in the days and weeks ahead as we enjoy the summer weather that God has given us!

In Christ,

Pastor Anthony