This website is called “Getting to Know Jesus.” The previous twenty-five meditations (beginning with #2501) focused on who Jesus is, and what it means to get to know him. The next several will be about one of the primary ways we get to know Jesus, which is by being a part of a church. A church is a community of believers who, among many other things, gathers each week to worship Jesus.
An increasing number of people believe that being a part of a church is not necessary, and maybe not even good. Also, an increasing number of people do not believe that one needs to attend worship regularly, and for some, the feeling is that one can be a faithful Christian without any worship at all. And among even those who are members of a church and who do worship at least occasionally, there is widespread misunderstanding about the purpose of worship.
A pastor friend of mine was telling me about a conversation he had with one of his members at the store during the Covid pandemic. They were both expressing their frustration with the ongoing shutdowns, the wearing of masks, and all the time spent at home. “However,” said the man to my friend the pastor, “I do like watching the worship service on-line, sitting there in my pajamas with a cup of coffee.”
The pastor replied, “Well, don’t like it too much. When this is all over, we do need to again get back to gathering together on Sunday morning.”
“Do we?” asked the man.
According to statistics, many have said “No, we don’t.” A large percentage of churches report that their post-Covid attendance remains lower than before the closures; and in many churches, it is much lower.
The man wondered if we needed to get back to gathering together. That is a good question, and it raises many other questions. What is the purpose of worship? Do we have to gather together, or can we just all watch worship on our phones, computers, or televisions? We might even ask about the purpose of the church itself. Maybe we can do without it altogether. These are some of the topics that will be discussed in the Emailmeditations for the next few weeks.
It is with some apprehension that I will also attempt to add something new. Starting next Sunday, June 2, the Sunday posting will be different– at least for a little while, until I see how it goes. Sundays, instead of the usual written post, I will do a one-hour video worship service, filmed in a ‘studio.’ This service will contain many of the elements of the regular worship service, but it will also be lacking some important aspects. I will also include the text of the entire spoken content of the service. That way, you can read it or watch it.
I am doing this with some apprehension because although I was a pastor for 40 years, I am not used to speaking only into a camera, and, the technical knowledge needed for this sort of production was not in my skill set. My ‘recording studio’ is in a corner of a pole shed, and since retirement I have had considerable trouble with my eyes. Please be patient as I work to improve the quality of the videos. And if this doesn’t work at all, I will abandon the effort. “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again—but then quit; there is no need to make a fool of yourself.” We’ll see how it goes.
Each of these weekly videos will be an hour long and have two parts. The first will be 35-45 minutes of prayers, songs, Scripture readings, and a sermon, presented in the format of a traditional worship service. The second part will be 15-25 minutes, and will consist of a variety of items that teach the Christian faith, or, inspire us to live by what we believe, helping us to follow Jesus more closely. There may be more songs and Scripture readings, or stories, or videos from others, or book reviews, or something else. The length of time for each of the two parts will vary each week, but the entire video will be about an hour.
The desire (or at least openness) to setting aside one hour on Sunday morning is still there for many people, though in-person worship habits have unfortunately changed. My hope is that this Sunday Worship video can be an important supplement to my daily written meditations. Not everyone is a reader; and, many people are overwhelmed by too many emails, and therefore, often ignore the longer ones. Those who are out of the habit of going to church on Sunday, but are still willing to set aside that hour, might find this a good option for the time being. Those who do go to worship may find this to be a helpful supplement. But I most certainly do not intend it to be a replacement for the weekly gathering. (continued…)
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