“I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” (Psalm 122:1)
Nope. I really wasn’t glad. One of my earliest church memories is skipping out from Vacation Bible School. It was probably the summer before I was to enter 1st grade. For some reason, I decided I didn’t like it, so I left. Fortunately, the pastor spotted me and wisely did not try to talk me into staying, but spent some time with me (playing catch) and then let me go on my way. (He did call my mother to warn her I was walking home.)
You will not be surprised to know that VBS was crowded and noisy – circumstances I hate as much now as then. Maybe I had (have?) social anxiety. I know I hate group activities. I didn’t just skip VBS. I attended exactly one pep rally in Junior High. I skipped every subsequent pep rally until I graduated High School.
And yet, here I am, pastoring a church (and wishing we had big enough crowds to make me nervous).
Maybe because I am not a ‘church lover’ by natural inclination, I can understand why people are turned off by the institutional church. Let’s face it, we’re not very entertaining. Church participation exacts a significant cost in terms of time and energy, money, and involvement in the messy affairs of being part of a community. And when people call us hypocrites they’re not wrong. We talk a better game than we play.
And yet, I am glad to go to the house of the Lord. I’m glad because it is there that I am incorporated into the people of God who are not just some random crowd, but a family of love and care and support. In the house of the Lord I am drawn into acts of worship that lift me out of myself. In the house of the Lord I hear again the story of God’s redeeming love for all of creation. In the house of the Lord I am encountered by the Holy and I am transformed by the encounter.
Prayer: Holy God, thank you for bringing your faithful people together in our family home. Make us glad to gather there with each other. Meet us there, we pray. Amen.