Following Jesus is about so much more than checking a “Christian” box on a survey. It’s even more than about going to church on Sunday (*gasp*). I believe following Jesus means living like Jesus: seeking to be prayer-filled, rooted in Scripture, holy in lifestyle, Spirit-empowered, and social-justice oriented in the midst of living out our real lives. In following Jesus we find healing and wholeness. And as we are mended and beginning to live more wholly ourselves, we cannot help but bring the healing and wholeness of Jesus into our corner of the world.

So why go to church? Gathering together each Sunday is a way of anchoring ourselves. Life is hard. The world is full of devastation and disaster. We have bills to pay and kids to feed and jobs to work or school to finish. In choosing to gather together with like-minded people, we are intentionally surrounding ourselves with a physical representation of the love of Jesus. When we worship alongside each other week after week, we can take turns being on the giving or receiving end of encouragement. (Because someone is always going to be having a rough week, right? That’s the nature of this broken world in which we live.)

We do not give up meeting together because we’re a people seeking the healing and wholeness of Jesus. Every week we need to be reminded of Truth. Week after week we need to see one another’s faces and remember all over again that we are not alone in this. And we need to be reminded of Jesus’ ongoing invitation to find healing and wholeness, mercy and grace, forgiveness and love at his Holy Table.

We go to church because we can’t afford not to. Yeah, it’s hard to get up on Sunday mornings. It’s hard for me, too. It’s hard to get the family to church and have the kids’ naptimes thrown off. It’s hard for my family too. (Really hard, let me tell you.) The music isn’t your style and the sermon might not be deep enough (or it might be too deep). Maybe someone will shake your hand too enthusiastically or no one seems to notice you. You don’t want to have to look that person in the eye who made you so mad the last time you talked.

Yeah, I’ve felt all those things, too. And I’m the pastor. Did I forget to mention that in all of this? What I’m saying is I get it. I don’t always want to do church either (and it’s my job). But what I do want is to be healed and made whole by Jesus. And I believe going to church is the way Jesus kicks off that work each week. I believe doing church what Jesus asks me to do week in and week out, and I believe it’s what’s best for me (kind of like brushing my teeth or going to bed on time or getting the flu shot). I have often thought I would be more spiritually well off on my own. But for whatever reason God brings about our healing and wholeness in the presence of others. Meeting together is a reminder that God has not left us to fend for ourselves.

In words of the Apostle Paul (as interpreted by Eugene Peterson), this is why we do church:

“We’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 The Message