Full Churches

The headline in Monday’s edition of The Dallas Morning News read, “Churches fill across town on first Sunday after attack.” The article went on to say, “Pastors, chaplains and priests echoed themes of forgiveness and healing in the first Sunday services since Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan’s rampage at Ft. Hood.” The article quoted several people expressing their emotions. Twenty-nine year old Tawni Lay said, “I’m really emotional, and I feel that this is a safe place.” Second Lt. Daniel Curtis said, “The church helps gather our thoughts and recompose ourselves. It helps us cope.” I am so glad the church has been the place of refuge for the people of the Ft. Hood/Killeen area. I am glad it is a place of sanctuary, a place of healing, a place of hope. But I do have to ask, isn’t that the case every Sunday? Don’t we need “forgiveness and healing” every week? Why are churches filled only after tragedies?

I am taken back to the days following 9/11. The church I served at the time provided a special service the night of the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Even though there was little time to get the word out that we would be having a service, the sanctuary was packed. We started getting phone calls in the afternoon from people (members and people we had never heard of) asking if we were having a service. The Sunday following we had to set up chairs in two of our three services. By the next Sunday, attendance was back to normal. What is it that draws us to worship in difficult times and then, in just a few days, for many it becomes perfunctory?

Is it possible that our understanding of worship has become not worshipful at all? Is worship for us, there to supply our needs and frailties, or is it our faithful response to God? Isn’t worship our adoration and glorification of God? Isn’t it our time to sing God our praises and to thank God for His beneficence? Isn’t it how we are challenged to live a life that is pleasing to the one who created us and to whom we owe everything? Isn’t it our opportunity to take responsibility to make His kingdom become a reality in this world and at this time? And aren’t these an every week responsibility and expectation? Certainly, we receive much from our worship; a time to recognize our shortcomings and receive God’s forgiveness, a moment to reflect on what is truly important in life and what is not, to be reminded that we are one of God’s precious children and that God will never leave us alone, a time to recover from the week and receive reassurance. But it is crucial for us to remember that worship is all about God and what that might mean to us.

As Tawni Lay was quoted as saying in the DMN article, “Sometimes it takes a wakeup call to realize what is important.” Thanksgiving is in two weeks. Come to worship ready to thank God for all the blessings in life and to take responsibility as one who is called His own.