Faith Health & Summer

 I found this vignette, it was posted without an author's name. If I have stolen it from someone without copyright permission, I beg forgiveness. I reprint it here to begin the conversation about attendance at the Divine Service. I do so, for it is summer. And while something attendance at the Divine Service is something optional at the best of times, in the summer they take a vacation from even that regularity of attendance.

This post is meant as encouragement.

Here is the vignette.
A member of a certain church, who previously had been attending services regularly, stopped going. After a few weeks, the pastor decided to visit him.
 It was a chilly evening. The pastor found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire. Guessing the reason for his pastor's visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a comfortable chair near the fireplace and waited.
 The pastor made himself at home but said nothing. In the grave silence, he contemplated the dance of the flames around the burning logs. After some minutes, the pastor took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone. Then he sat back in his chair, still silent. The host watched all this in quiet contemplation. As the one lone ember's flame flickered and diminished, there was a momentary glow, and then its fire was no more. Soon it was cold and dead.
 Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting. The Pastor glanced at his watch and realized it was time to leave. He slowly stood up, picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to glow, once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it.
 As the pastor reached the door to leave, his host said with a tear running down his cheek, "Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the fiery sermon. I shall be back in church next Sunday."

That's nice, but I think it misses a few things. As a Lutheran, we like to consider Martin Luther's Small Catechism. It is a series of questions and answers to teach the basics of the Christian faith. Here’s what he wrote about the 3^rd Commandment.

What is the 3^rd Commandment?
Answer:“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”
What does this mean?
Answer: We should fear and love God, and so we should not despise his Word and the preaching of the same, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.

 Summer's here and the time is right for all sorts of things to get in the way of attending services in God’s house (as if summer is the only time this happens).  When other things get in the way of our gladly hearing and learning God’s Word, we are violating this commandment.  While the above story is cute, it misses something.

 It is true that we are all created to be social, and we do build one another up.  But what is most important as we gather together is God’s house is the presence of Christ.  “Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." 

It is Christ who comes to us in the Word and in the Sacrament who builds us up in the faith. In this time, He delivers to us the forgiveness He purchased upon the cross in Word and Sacrament. It is He who feeds and nourishes our faith in these wonderful gifts. It is Christ who keeps us in the faith that brings eternal life.

Think of it this way. To have a healthy body we not only need to exercise, but we need to be eating healthy food. If I wanted to lose 20 pounds and get more fit, I could take the approach of fasting for a whole month and working out every day to get into shape. Anybody with an ounce of sense knows all that would accomplish is the weight loss - and I would definitely get no stronger. Why? Because I did not get my muscles the necessary nutrients they need to stay fit - much less get more fit. Such an approach would make me sick, and might possibly kill me.

It is the same with a healthy faith. If faith is not fed and nourished, even if there is the attempt to exercise it, sooner or later that faith will get less healthy and possibly die. How long does that take? How long can you stay away from the table, not being fed and nourished before getting sick or dying? How many meals do you skip for your body's health? So, how many faith meals should you skip? 

When we now consider what that 3rd Commandment means is that it is for the sake of the blessings we receive from God in Christ Jesus our Lord that we do not despise his Word and the preaching of the same, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it. We want to be in God's house to receive His good gifts to us.

With a healthy body that is properly fed and nourished, we can face each new day and the physical challenges that confront us in our bodies.

Need I say this? Are the challenges that we face each day, tempting us away from God and His Holy Word, easier to face than the physical challenges we endure in our bodies? NO! In fact, with a healthy faith the devil and the world are seductive voices beckoning us, and they are indeed truly tempting. The consequences of an unhealthy faith are more dire than an unhealthy body, for those consequences might be eternal.

But as the Divine Service is where Christ comes to us, feeds us, and loves us, maybe we should think about it differently.

It is not a question, "Do I have to go to church!"

It is a statement of joy, "Wow, I get to gather in God's House to hear my Savior and be fed until life every lasting." 

It is after all why the Psalmist said, I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!” 

Peace of the Lord be with you!