Too often, the society in which we live affects our spiritual life without us realizing it. In America, we struggle to keep our individualism from altering our view of the local body of Christ and our relationship to it. While any patriotic American will explain why our national character of “pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps” makes us who we are, we need to recognize the impact of having that view within the church. If we are not careful, we look at what we do in a corporate worship service, such as reading Scripture, praying, and singing, and think, “I can just do that at home by myself.” God views it much differently!

In our weekly service of covenant renewal, much occurs that does not and cannot take place the rest of the week. Our first thought when reflecting on a church service tends to be the preaching of the Word of God, as it should be. As the Second Helvetic Confession reminds us, “the preaching of the Word of God is the Word of God.” However, many other amazing and unique acts of worship happen! Our confession of sin is not only individual but also corporate, where we as a church body confess our collective wrongdoing. Then, we hear together of God’s forgiveness in the assurance of pardon from our pastors. I suspect that many of us would echo Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s conclusion that “the assurance of forgiveness becomes fully certain to me only when it is spoken by a brother in the name of God.” Most uniquely, we participate in the sacraments, which can only be done together. We celebrate communion, as we together “proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor 11:26). We declare this to one another, as we receive grace from God in tangible means. Even as we watch another be baptized, as is so powerfully described in the answer to question 167 in the Westminster Larger Catechism, we “improve” on our own baptism by remembering it and being strengthened by it. We do all these acts of worship together each Sunday.

Throughout Scripture, while clearly describing the salvation of individuals, the Holy Spirit-inspired writers primarily speak of God’s redemption of his people collectively. As Peter writes, “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people” (1 Pet 2:10). We constitute not individuals trying to survive in the world on our own but a band of pilgrims traveling together through a wilderness to the new heavens and the new earth. God gives us corporate worship for many reasons, one being to strengthen us on our journey home. As elders, one of our greatest privileges is to issue the call to gather together each Sunday morning, out of the world and into the very presence of God. We pray that we all hear that call!
 
On behalf of the session and until our next Sunday together,
Chase