The Hours

Growing up, I always felt connected to the preacher (he was my Dad), but how do people connect with a preacher with whom they are not related? Better yet, how do each one of us connect with others on days other than Sunday?

If the culmination of the “Christian experience” is the Sunday morning worship assembly, then Christianity is overrated.

True, it is important to come together (it is even commanded). On the other hand, we can worship together and still remain strangers. A large gathering of people in a church auditorium seems to breed anonymity.

Unfortunately, anonymity and Christianity do not go well together.

If the Christians in the first century met on a daily basis, then why do we think one hour on Sunday is all we need to obey God and fellowship with other followers of Christ?

Is “church” more than one hour on Sunday? Yes.

Is one hour on Sunday crucial to understanding and living out “church”? Yes.

So, we are faced with a paradox (although, for the early Christians, there was probably no paradox). We know that the Sunday morning worship assembly does not encompass the whole of the Christian faith, yet we also know that the Sunday morning worship assembly is essential to grasping the whole of the Christian faith.

Church works when one hour on Sunday is combined with involvement in a Bible class.

Church works when on hour on Sunday is complemented by involvement in a home Bible study group.

Church works when the one-hour experience on Sunday compels me to volunteer to help the poor, the homeless, and the disenfranchised.

Church works when what happens for one hour on Sunday leads me to actively show the love of Christ to someone I do not know.

Church works when the one hour I spend on Sundays in the auditorium with a large group of people creates a yearning in me to develop deeper relationships with fellow Christ-followers.

Church works when I take the sermons, the song lyrics, the Scriptures, and the communion meditations that I hear on Sunday and manifest them in my relationships.

Church is more than one hour on Sunday, and so much less without that one hour.