All wrapped up in a sense of well-being in church today, looking out on the somewhat sparse crowd from the vantage point of the balcony, I thought about why I go to church. Not all the Biblical reasons I could recite, but the nuts-and-bolts, "for me" reasons. Plain and simple. Here goes:
1. I have been going to church. Present Perfect Continuous: An action that began in the past and continues to the present, possibly the most powerful verb tense. Ever since Jesus caught my eye in the late 70's, I've been going to church.
2. Music: Somehow when I sing, when I hear and see others sing and play instruments, when the entire assembly is making something beautiful and transcendent, I find it hard to believe this:
3. People. I go because I want to see people I love, people I know, people I want to know. I want to be around people who've cast their lots as I have.
4. To be reminded. I need to hear the gospel again and again, to hear it said differently, to hear how it matters, how it looks to be a person of the gospel.
5. Beauty. Sometimes I see beauty, and when I do, I worship.
6. Where else? I say, like Peter when Jesus asked him if he wanted to leave, too, "Where would I go? You have the Words of Life."
