Some years ago, I remember one Sunday in September being designated 'Back to Church Sunday'. The idea was that each member of the congregation would invite a friend or family member to join them in going to church, as a 'taster', with a view to returning if they liked the experience. Alternatively, there might be people who had simply not been to church for some while and who had now 'got out of the habit'; that day was an opportunity to return without embarrassment, knowing that there would be others present who would be finding church behaviour 'new' or 'strange'.
As churches now are in various stages of 'returning to normal' following the lock-down (ours will open for worship again next Sunday), this tag line takes on a renewed significance. There will be many who will not wish to go; some will have good reason, perhaps still shielding, some with children who will not be catered for in the usual way and so would have to sit through an 'adult' service without disrupting - not at all easy for 3-to-7-year-olds - and still others who have simply got out of the habit of public worship ... especially since armchair worship through technology has been made possible by many churches in the last few months.
"I don't like the vicar/this week's preacher" ... It's quite natural that not everyone pleases us, but this shouldn't be allowed to deter us from drawing near to God and His people. I know a woman who, on realising that she didn't like the new vicar, stopped attending church. As soon as the next vicar arrived, she was again seen there every week. She had missed a whole slice of parish life! The writer to the Hebrews encouraged his readers in "not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another" (Heb. 10:25). We should keep going to church despite the people we'll meet there!
"I'm not good enough to go to church" ... Some of us who were brought up on the Book of Common Prayer will remember the service beginning with the plea, 'O Lord, open Thou our lips'. The words come from Psalm 51, and have been part of liturgy since before the Reformation. Their source reminds us that, of ourselves, none of us is worthy to come before God. Isaiah expressed this unworthiness very concisely: "I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips" (Isa. 6:5). Fortunately we don't have to suffer the remedy that he reported (see verses 6-7), but can claim the redemption won for us by Jesus on the Cross. During his earthly ministry, Jesus declared, "It's not the healthy who need a doctor, but those who are ill ... I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Matt. 9:12-13).
"I haven't anything decent to wear." ... I blame the Victorians for the tradition of wearing one's best clothes for church-going. Many working men would only have two sets of clothes, one that they wore every day for work and the other that was kept for church. If only they had read more closely the story of Samuel's selection of David, the shepherd-boy-come-king! Samuel was told, "Don't consider his appearance or his height, ... people look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7). Many people are put off church by the thought of appearing inferior; I'm very glad that the churches I have attended over the last thirty or so years have welcomed all, whatever their appearance.
If you want to worship in God's house, feel free to do so. Don't be put off by mere people and their misguided traditions!
"I'm not good enough to go to church" ... Some of us who were brought up on the Book of Common Prayer will remember the service beginning with the plea, 'O Lord, open Thou our lips'. The words come from Psalm 51, and have been part of liturgy since before the Reformation. Their source reminds us that, of ourselves, none of us is worthy to come before God. Isaiah expressed this unworthiness very concisely: "I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips" (Isa. 6:5). Fortunately we don't have to suffer the remedy that he reported (see verses 6-7), but can claim the redemption won for us by Jesus on the Cross. During his earthly ministry, Jesus declared, "It's not the healthy who need a doctor, but those who are ill ... I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Matt. 9:12-13).
"I haven't anything decent to wear." ... I blame the Victorians for the tradition of wearing one's best clothes for church-going. Many working men would only have two sets of clothes, one that they wore every day for work and the other that was kept for church. If only they had read more closely the story of Samuel's selection of David, the shepherd-boy-come-king! Samuel was told, "Don't consider his appearance or his height, ... people look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7). Many people are put off church by the thought of appearing inferior; I'm very glad that the churches I have attended over the last thirty or so years have welcomed all, whatever their appearance.
If you want to worship in God's house, feel free to do so. Don't be put off by mere people and their misguided traditions!
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