Church! Who Needs it?

Many moons ago, (I whisper 1950's) when I was a kid, my mother used to say to me and my sisters, every Sunday, “I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord.”

Frankly, I did not know why I should be happy just by going to church.  But, Mom and Dad seemed to know.  Each week my Dad polished our shoes and we got dressed in our Sunday best, and we went to church as a family.  I’ll tell you what, when I became a mother, that weekly event became much more of a chore than I remembered it was.  

One of my early memories was when I was maybe four or five years old.  I see in my mind's eye, my Mother, sitting on a chair in our living room.  She was beautiful with long dark hair and she wore a dress with a full skirt, that, when she sat on the edge of the overstuffed chair, the hem went nearly to the floor, showing only her crossed ankles in such a lady-like sitting position.

On her lap was a zither, which is a stringed instrument that she had borrowed from someone because she wanted to  learn to play Jesus Loves Me and a couple other songs for nursery school at church.  I was so proud of her.  I still remember, that was my Mommy, the teacher and she played a music thing. 

Can you recall an early memory of being in church or Sunday School?  

Some of you know how much I love butterflies.  I suppose my love of butterflies started in a Sunday School room at the First Baptist Church in Emporium.  The teachers had set up nature stations to see God's outdoor wonders, indoors.  

One of the stations was a large glass jar with grass on the bottom, a branch with some leaves standing from bottom to top diagonally in the jar and with holes cut in the metal lid for air to get in.    

On the middle of the branch was something that looked like a kind of nut, but it was sticking to the branch.  It was a butterfly cocoon and it took forever to change to a butterfly… and I thought that nothing would ever happen, but I remember being glad to go to church each week so we could see any changes.   

What a miracle that is to innocent young eyes.  I never saw the butterfly coming out of the cocoon, but one Sunday, the most beautiful yellow spotted butterfly was in the jar and the cocoon was empty.  Sort of like the empty tomb, I think.

Did you know that what is the end to a caterpillar is only the beginning to the Butterfly? 

When you were a kid, did you know why we should be “GLAD” to go into the house of the Lord?  

Even though we go to church each week with other like-minded people who become like family to us, It is actually a very personal experience going to church.  

Memories of my Mom with the Autoharp and butterflies in a glass jar, from a long ago experience of going to Sunday School... That's personal.  No one else has that memory in the same way as me.

As I remember, Sunday School and Day Camp were a lot of work for a kid. We had to remember our jackets at the end of the day, because the mornings were cool and the afternoons of VBS were warm.  I lost a couple jackets that way.  

Also, we had to learn a lot of things... like the order of the books of the Bible.  We had to memorize verses of the Bible and sometimes we had homework to talk with our Mom's and Dad's about Bible stuff.  

We learned to be outgoing by acting in plays portraying people in the Bible. And then, there was also for me personally, learning that Zachius was a bad man because he was a taxcollector in Jesus day!!  

My Dad was Shippen Township Tax Collector.  He wasn't a bad man. 

This book, The Bible, seemed to be very important in Sunday School and church.

 

One year, when we were a bit older (maybe 10), we were tasked with picking our favorite Bible verse during Day Camp.  We were to write the verse in raw alphabet macaroni and glue onto a wooden slab.  Then, we were to lacquer it, so it would last a long time.  

One of my haunting “things that never got done” from my childhood, was that I never was able to get lacquer to seal it.  Some of the macaroni letters were then eaten by tiny little bugs.  Such a heart ache for me. I didn’t do it 100% correctly. 

Can you remember something from childhood that you just couldn’t get done?  

Anyway, in choosing the verse, I wanted to be different.  Everyone was doing John 3:16, but I, Cathy Ostrum, had to be more original.  Some were tempted to just do the shortest verse in the Bible… "Jesus Wept", that would take less time and get them to the snack sooner.  But, for me, this task was personal.  I felt that I needed to be profound.  It would be something to last a long time and I wanted to write a verse in macaroni that would truly be my favorite, but I didn't really have a favorite.

Do you have any idea how difficult it is for a kid, with the whole Bible to choose from, to find a genuine, original, favorite verse?  

I went back and forth through the pages and did not have any idea what verse to choose.  Then, when I was about to say, I’ll just choose John 3:16… one POPPED right out at me  as if it was coming off the page for me to see.  

It was on the very top of the page at the left side of the book and the first verse of a chapter in Proverbs.  This verse, has profoundly resonated with me since then. It's the one I chose to write in macaroni.

Proverbs 3:1 – “My Son, Do not forget my teachings, but let your heart keep my commandments”.

This chapter in Proverbs tells you and me, each of us personally, HOW TO DO LIFE!  Following this recipe will bring you, eventually, to a closeness with the One True and Living God.

I'm asking a lot of questions, but did you ever notice that when you go to church, you are told what to do?  

Who wants to get out of bed, search for clothes to wear, that are most likely still in the laundry, get the kids ready, give up breakfast and guzzle your coffee to go somewhere that a person will stand in front of you to preach to you what to do and how to do it?

The preacher says, "Do love your neighbor."

The preacher says, "Don’t lie." 

The preacher says, "Do remember God’s teachings". 

The preacher says, "Don’t murder anyone".

There are absolutely so many rules.

Then at church, you learn that the RESPONSIBILITY for obeying these rules that you are told, by the preacher, falls directly on your shoulders because of something called "Free Will".

The Bible says in Matthew 5:13:  You are like salt for the whole human race…          REALLY?  THE WHOLE HUMAN RACE?

Then Matthew 5:14a says, "You are like the light for the whole world"….        REALLY?  THE WHOLE WORLD?

That, my friends is a whole lot of responsibility!!

Realizing that you have responsibility to be salt and light to the whole world and the whole human race is OVERWHELMING!  I can’t do it.  I can barely keep myself salty and lit!

Then, I reach back in my memory of all those early Sunday School times, and you can do this too, to the thought of my dear late Mother with that zither on her lap.  My sisters and I were her “whole world”.  She was being salt and light to her whole world. 

You see going to church develops that personal relationship with The one who SAVED the Whole Human Race.  Jesus Christ.  

Coming to church as often as is possible teaches you HOW to be the light for the whole world.  This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine.  Hide it under a bushel NO.  I’m going to let it shine. And lessens the personal burden for us of being the light, by showing you that Jesus IS WAS and ALWAYS WILL BE the LIGHT OF THE WORLD.  Jesus Lives and Jesus watches over you and Jesus is The Way, the Truth and the Life. 

You can't learn all that by going to church once a year.  Your children can't learn all that by simply watching you be an example.  They can not see Jesus in your eyes and they cannot develop a close personal relationship with Jesus, unless we teach them through bringing them to church and following the rules ourselves and talking to them about our Faith in Jesus.

Folks, today, live in a different world from those little girls watching their Mom learn to play Jesus Loves Me on the zither.  But those memories of My Mom, the butterfly, the Bible verses and the songs....  That's what helps us to get through every worldly day.  

It is a totally different world for us as adults too, because we see everything through eyes of experience, rather than the innocent eyes of a kindergartner.  

That beautiful butterfly that I saw with innocent eyes, has become, because of my learning in church, the symbol for Jesus, who died and then Lives again. 

That beautiful butterfly coming out of the cocoon sixty years ago, has become the essence of the passing of a loved one from this life into a whole and pain free eternal life with Christ in Heaven.

And isn’t it wonderful that us little girls and boys, all grown up now, have this one place where we can come, as often as we want.  This one place where we can sit and remember and pray for the world and for OUR world, our families. 

This one place called Church, that runs on the rules and teachings of the Bible that NEVER changes and is as vital and alive now, as it was sixty, a hundred, two thousand years ago.

Surely, we can go into our closets at home and pray any time we want.  When we do, we feel so much closer to God and to those who have gone on to Glory before us.  

We talk about our day, we cry for things of the world and we ask forgiveness for whatever we may have done, that we don’t even know that we’ve done.  We pray for miracles and for peace.  

But to publicly come to this gathering place, where we can be supported by others and where we can support other Christians is a God-given freedom that is so PRECIOUS and a God given right that is indescribable to me. 

Experience has also taught me that we can not control some things in life.  Church experience has taught me ... that's OK....  It has taught me that when everything seems out of control on Earth, we still have the assurance that God is in control and that our God is Living and has given us the Holy Spirit to live in us daily.

If God is for us.... Who can be against us?

Have you ever wondered at the fact that while we serve a living, most holy and omnipotent God…. that he invites us to come to be with Him anywhere, any time, any place?

He says, “Suffer the Little Children to come unto me”.  

He touches lepers and the most unloved among us.

He forgives us and stands in the balance for us who are all sinners, before God Almighty.

Jesus shows us, each day, that knowing and coming closer to Him, in a deep and abiding relationship, gives us a special kind of internal peace that nonbelievers can never know.

It’s taken me much of my lifetime, but I think I finally understand why I’m happy when they say to me, let us go into the house of the Lord.

I have to admit, that doesn’t make it much easier to crawl out of bed on a relaxing summer day, or come out from under the covers on a cold winter morning in order to come to church.  It is also a bit daunting to come to church without my Mom and Dad telling me it’s time to get up and go.  And without having them with me here in this place.  Heck, no one even polishes my shoes any more.

But, coming to church is all about that personal relationship building and it is about getting ENCOURAGEMENT to face the rest of the world through the week, when things go wrong.  When you see the terrible news about evil that seems to happen every day, now.  

Every week, when you come into the presence of the Holy Spirit of God with like- minded Christians, your personal Hope is exemplified for yourself AND for the world.  

Your personal Joy is exacerbated by His Word and your personal strength is forged, as iron melts and then hardens..  un-bendable… undeniably strong and when planted firmly in the Grace of God, immovable.

Coming to church is the only way that you and I can maintain our “saltiness” and light personally, for each other and for the whole world. 

Coming to church for our weekly hope and encouragement from our living God is the only way that our light can remain bright and not hidden for the whole world to see.

Yes – I was glad, I am glad, when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. 

Tell your little ones, tell your bigger ones, every chance you get, that you are glad when it's time to come to church.  

They will know why after a little while or maybe they will know all during their lifetime.

Butterfly Blessings for your week ahead.  Amen

Benediction:  Author unknown - "A Love Letter from Jesus:  My Child I am Jesus who loves you Unconditionally.  There is nothing you can do to make me love you more and there is nothing that you have done to make me close the door. For my love is whole, it is complete , It is Infinite.  You can never fully understand How much I Love you My child, you are so dear to me. You are like a jewel More precious than the finest Gold Just for you I suffered and died And one day I will take all of your Pain and sorrow Away and wipe every tear from your eyes. All I ask in return is that you love me and trust me.  From Your Savior Jesus.

Proverbs 3: 1-12

1 My son, do not forget my teachings, but let your heart keep my commandments.

² for length of days and years of life
    and peace they will add to you.

³ Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you;
    bind them around your neck;
    write them on the tablet of your heart.
⁴ So you will find favor and good success^[a]
    in the sight of God and man.

⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
    and do not lean on your own understanding.
⁶ In all your ways acknowledge him,
    and he will make straight your paths.
⁷ Be not wise in your own eyes;
    fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
⁸ It will be healing to your flesh^[b]
    and refreshment^[c] to your bones.

⁹ Honor the Lord with your wealth
    and with the first fruits of all your produce;
¹⁰ then your barns will be filled with plenty,
    and your vats will be bursting with wine.

¹¹ My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline
    or be weary of his reproof,
¹² for the Lord reproves him whom he loves,
    as a father the son in whom he delights.