Yes.<\/p>\n
Unless, of course, you are more holy than Jesus. Jesus attended synagogue and the Temple rituals ‘customarily’ (Luke 4.16), so if it was worth it for him, then it’s worth it for us.<\/p>\n
This is not to say that we are forced to attend a church that spiritually murders us, it is to say that we need to be a little stricter about discriminating between spiritual murder and spiritual inconvenience. It is not possible to get to heaven by giving in to our own desires so often especially when such desires are, frankly, incredibly shallow.<\/p>\n
What is church? Church is where the gospel is rightly preached and the sacraments duly administered. And yes, in order to be a Christian, you need to have a regular sacramental life. You need to be baptised, you need to share the bread and wine with your brothers and sisters in the name of Jesus.<\/p>\n
Church is the gathering of believers for the particular purpose of renewing and refreshing their faith, which is accomplished by centreing our attention upon God and offering up to him the very best of ourselves, acknowledging that we are merely returning his original investment in us.<\/p>\n
Christianity is not a solitary and private act. It is public and corporate. Fellowship is not an optional extra, it is constitutive. You cannot learn to love your enemies unless you take time to get to know them first.<\/p>\n
Jesus had synagogue and the Temple. I’m coming to see house-groups (or equivalent) as the former, and Sunday morning as the latter. So many of the arguments and controversies we struggle with would be eased if we didn’t try to make the Temple into the synagogue, or vice versa.<\/p>\n
Being a Christian is not the same as being saved. It is not for us to put boundaries around the grace of God. But joining in with other people on the pilgrimage and path of faith, this is not an optional extra, this is of the very essence of the faith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Yes. Unless, of course, you are more holy than Jesus. Jesus attended synagogue and the Temple rituals ‘customarily’ (Luke 4.16), so if it was worth it for him, then it’s worth it for us. This is not to say that … Continue reading