“Vacation from Worship??”
In June, Kristin and I took a week off. Since on a weekly basis we don’t have the opportunity, Kristin commented about how wonderful it was to be able to worship side by side. We love our vacation Sundays because we can worship next to each other and experience worship in different churches. It made us think and wonder though about taking vacation and if we ever take a “Vacation” from worship. God commands us to take a day of rest. Sometimes, we think this means to sleep in and do nothing, don’t we? I think that is not the case. Jesus says in Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” How incredible is that! We aren’t to find rest by sleeping in on Sundays but actually rest in Jesus Christ. That rest comes from spending time with our Lord and WORSHIPPING him corporately as a body of Christ. The church is the Body of Christ so if we aren’t at church worshipping, then we are missing out on what God wants from us...Or actually what God commands us to do, because we are commanded to worship Him. Yes, we also worship from home, and worship Him through our actions, but they cannot be taken out of the context of corporate worship. If we aren’t being held accountable by corporate worship, then we aren’t following what God has called us to do.
One of the many many many things that I love being here at PIPC for is that every week we have vacationers, who know how important worship is, and they choose to worship with us on their vacation. I also love hearing about all of the churches that you, our members, go to on vacation! Isn’t it refreshing that we can worship on vacation at another church and it be a part of the same body of Christ?
I challenge us all to think about how corporate worship is not a request from God but a requirement, one that we don’t take vacation from, but find our rest in. We must make corporate worship a priority in our lives, not an option. What’s a better way to start our week than a weekly appointment worshipping our Lord and Savior?
