WHEN WE GO TO CHURCH

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21988, 24 June 1933, Page 19

WHEN WE GO TO CHURCH

.Written for the Otago Daily Times. By the Eev. D. Gardner Miller. I wonder how many of ns, when we arc preparing to go to church, ask ourselves why we go. The habit of church-going is so deep-seated that the original motive that developed into a habit has become rather hazy. And yet that motive, or urge, is always there —sometimes faint and sometimes strong —and I am certain we would all be better and stronger men and women if every now and then we examined our hearts on this matter ol church-going. Very frequently I hear people say that they go to church to hear a certain preacher. There are others wlio say—very piously, I am afraid-—-that you ought not to go to church to hear a men preach, you should go to worship God. Both types are right—and wrong, the combination of both ideas makes, in my judgment, a church service worth while. But I would seriously ask the good people, who say that you ought not to attend church simply to hear a man preach, to remember this fact, that it was precisely for that reason that crowds gathered to hear the Apostles preach. But for gifted preachers, thousands of people would never enter a church at all. I myself would walk miles and endure great discomfort so that I might hear a man of eloquent tongue. Of course, preaching is not supreme in the church service. Tliers are other equal, if not greater, aspects, but, as far as I am concerned, preaching is indispensable. Many people. I know, attend church because, as they say, the music is wonderful. That can apply to very few churches, but when it does apply it can be made an open doorway to the unseen and the holy. Whatever may be the urge that, at tne moment, though perhaps we may be unaware of the deep-seated motive, makes us wend our way to the church of our choice, don’t let us think for a fraction ot a moment that in going to church we are doing God a favour. More than that, don’t think that He neeus our prayers, hymns, sermons, and sacraments, Iho need is on our side, not on His. Nowhere in the New Testament is it said that God demands worship in a public or P* service. When we go to church we are not assembling ourselves together for the purpose of placating God, winning His favour, or in any way meeting an obligation. ' Why, then, do we go at all? * *

The question asked above is capable of more answers than one. I personally have two answers to the question, and these two answers have been put in a very striking way in a recent book, “Faith Without Fear,” written by that groat preacher, Rhondda Williams. In quoting them I am, at the same tune, revealing the deep-seated motive that c - pels me to go to church Here is the first; “If belief in the reality of an unseen Presence, other than us, and yet mysteriously in communion with dies out, I believe worship will die out. in other words I go to church because there I meet God, and am in communion with Him. Not that I cannot meet Him elsewhere, but I do meet Him in a church service in a way that is never obtainable, to me, elsewhere. Without that meeting and communion a church service is a dreary business, and will soon be put out of business. „ , . . , ■ The sense of the reality of God is what is needed almost above everything else in this world, and I believe that the increasing number of people who are nocking to the church in these days is an indication that the need is being met. Not theology, creeds, singing, prayers, and preaching—these are all valuable m so far as they lead you and me right to the threshold of the. Presence. There they must leave me, I must step over myself and meet Him whom my bewildered life seeks.. When we go to church we are obeying the deep-seated urge for communion and completion witn and in the Holy One Whom Jesus taught us to call Father. There is a unique and gloomy sense of the Presence of God when a company of people is. gathered together, seeking His communion. To those who are aged and infirm, to those who are, sick, to those too far away from a place of worship-rto all flnen x believe there comes a gentle peace and a sense of His nearness when at the hour of service, they ,ioin in spirit with their brethren in the House of God.

And here is the second quotation;—- “ If men come to church in a worshipful spirit, and a serious mind, and a not too individual temper, there is a lift in it to redeem men from slavery to earthly “ fhere is a lift in it.” Is not that finely said? And it is true. The world is very much with us during our working days. The economic machine either drives us or discards us. The things of the day—food, clothing, our jobs or lack of them, worry, fear, and a hundred other things—all conspire to reduce us to slavery. But 1 the chains are loosened—and oftentimes snapped—when we go to church. , „ , . .. There, with onr fellows who tramp the same road and can’y similar burdens, wo join in psalm and prayer and listen to the man of God, who, for our sakes. has travelled far. during the week, in the country of the spirit and now tells us what lie has seen and heard, As we worship, the harness of life ceases to gall and the burden of earthly things drops from our shoulders, and we see Him not only “High and Lifted Up," but also near us in His gentleness and understanding. Nowhere in all the world can any one of ns be so helped and encouraged as in common worship with our fellows. To risk another quotation: “Especially is the modern age so full of _ strain and stress that we cannot maintain the drive without a periodical re-charging of the spiritual batteries.” And so far these two reasons above all others—-my need of communion with God and my release from the slavery of earthly things—l go to church. The fact that I am a preacher does not lessen my need of the Church. It increases it, tor preaching is a terribly revealing thing, and I am often forced to cry out, “Woe is me! for I am undone.”