Pastor’s Page

I love every Sunday at First Bethel! I really love the Sunday’s when the Sanctuary is fuller. I am sure we all can say that! When our house is fuller and the songs sung with more voices, it does something for us. It confirms our faith as we enjoy standing with others that are present to worship God. It gives us a taste of future glory when we will all worship our Creator God together in a world without any brokenness. Our hour of worship grounds us in our existence that runs very deep; we are connecting to God in prayer and connecting through the fellowship of other believers. We leave with a heightened awareness of our own hope and a fuller sense of purpose, knowing we are living in the manner for which we were created. Nothing can take its place.

The writer of Hebrews knew this, writing, “Do not neglect meeting together, as it is the habit of some, but encouraging one another…” (Hebrews 25:10). He was writing in the specific context of gathering as a local church for corporate worship, knowing it is the primary place we experience God. It would be best if we never missed a Sunday worshipping together.

Enter the “idealistic/realistic” paradigm. My words above outline the idealistic. Never missing an occasion to worship together on Sunday is the ideal. We would do best to get as close to it as we can. The realistic part of life with work, family, illness, etc necessitates an occasional Sunday gathered elsewhere, outside the local church. Our walk and relationship with God will be most intimate when we allow those Sundays out of the church to be very few. We may attend a Bible study or small group, work on an outreach project, or enjoy a fellowship event. One experiences God in these places too. But none can take the place where we remember the ever-present saving movements of God and God’s continual provision of grace. We do this through reading together, singing together, hearing the Word of God together, and responding together.

Most of us would say there is truly little that is dearer to us than our life in the church together and we cannot ever imagine life without it. May we let our Sunday practice match the reality of that fervor with prioritizing gathering together as much as we possibly can.

As an ending note, I will say I encourage this for your spiritual formation and well-being, and not to bolster my personal ego as pastor. At times I have been critical of the universal church that has become overly “Sunday-centric.” There are seven days a week to walk with God in various forms. But there is no substitute for Sunday worship together! That is why I look forward to this time together each week and will always continue to order or our times of worship in a manner that is relevant to multiple generations and worship preferences.

Above all, God deserves our worship and adoration for engaging us with an amazing grace and love. When we give this to God, God gives it right back with increased joy, contentment and joy in our lives. I’ll see you Sunday!

That’s From the Heart,

Pastor David Ewing