Not only does God believe in you, God believes in you even before you believed in God. See, God knows you. From the moment God “knit you together in your mother’s womb” (Psalm 139). There is no place you can be that God is not. As the apostle Paul says in Romans 8:38-39, “nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ.”
As for assembling for worship. The real question might be, what is the value of being in worship?
Well, by definition of our Lutheran Confessions, church is, “The assembly of believers where the Gospel is rightly proclaimed, and the Sacraments are rightly administered.” To be church, is to be assembled with others. This is how God’s people have been from the beginning of our relationship with God. In the Christian Church it has always meant being part of a gathering of believers who meet on the first day of the week to hear stories about Jesus, to share in the sacraments by which God promises to be present to us, and to go into the world to serve others.
So, church means being together. The main place that happens is at our corporate worship on Wednesdays and Sundays. We believe that the Holy Spirit acts in and through the Word proclaimed and the Sacraments (baptism and communion) to change us. There is power in gathering together around these things.
Worship is a place to learn and to practice. To check and see if our own reading and understanding of God’s word is true, or if we are leading ourselves astray.
Now, worship may not always be where I want to be. Or even the most engaging thing all the time. (Yes, even pastors get bored!) But I believe that assembling is essential to who we are as Christians. Not just the assembly of worship, but the assembly of coming together as baptized Children of God. I believe that God loves you no matter what, and God is present outside of our assembly to be sure. But God also wants to be in relationship with you, and if you don’t spend time with God, especially in the assembly of believers, I think that hurts us and our faith development as much as it saddens God.
There is more to say on this topic, but I would leave you with this. God loves and believes in you no matter what. And, as C.S. Lewis said, “Christianity is either of ultimate importance or no importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”
Let me know if you have further questions by contacting me.
God’s Blessings,
Pastor Brian
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