Importance of worshipping on a certain day

[Henry Peterson]

How important do you all feel it is to go to Church and worship on a specific day each week? Surely if God is everywhere, you could equally well stay home and worship from home? Or you could go to a service on a different day that fits in better with your life, when you could concentrate more on the act of worship than a hurried service first thing on Sunday morning?

 

[drich0150]

One defiantly needs to fellowship with like minded believers. That being the only real criteria, then I guess it is up to the "other" like minds to decide when they all wish to gather and worship.

 

[Bear.Fr00t]

Christianity does not require worshiping God on a particular day. You are probably thinking about the Sabbath, which was a commandment God gave the Jewish nation when he made his covenant with them. But since you are not Jewish, this does not apply to you.

However, remember that God did not give commandments for naught. God taught that it is good for man to rest one day a week, and this is still true. If you rest one day a week, you find yourself refreshed. So even though we are not required to worship on the Sabbath to please God, we can still follow God's lead in resting one day a week.

 

[Spirko]

How important do you all feel it is to go to Church and worship on a specific day each week?

The going to church to worship corporately, very important. The specific day part, not so important.

Surely if God is everywhere, you could equally well stay home and worship from home?

God is everywhere. The church is not. God, who you say is everywhere, has commanded us to gather together for corporate worship, not to stay home and worship in isolation.

Or you could go to a service on a different day that fits in better with your life, when you could concentrate more on the act of worship than a hurried service first thing on Sunday morning?

That would be fine, too. I know of many churches that hold services on Saturday night. Many Baptist churches still hold services on Wednesday night.

The issue isn't when we do it, but whether or not we're meeting the Biblical obligation to gather as a corporate body.

 

[ephraimanesti]

How important do you all feel it is to go to Church and worship on a specific day each week?

The early Christians, when it became evident that they could no longer consider themselves as part of Judaism due to their being evicted from Jewish places of worship, began meeting on the "first day of the week" as this was the day of our Lord's Resurrection. In reality, of course, a Christian's worship of His Lord should be 24/7.

Surely if God is everywhere, you could equally well stay home and worship from home?

Scripture enjoins us, "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching." (Hebrews 10:25) Christians form a Body--there is no room for loners in Christianity. Even monks and hermits assemble together to share worship.

Or you could go to a service on a different day that fits in better with your life, when you could concentrate more on the act of worship than a hurried service first thing on Sunday morning?

Take note that your life becomes your service to God, and YOU fit into IT, not the other way around. You are at God's disposal--you are at His beck and call, not the other way around, and your "convenience" is of no account. We fit into Christianity--NOT mold it to our preferences and schedules. Anything more important to you than God will slay you spiritually. Ain't nothing worth the sacrifice of your soul!

Your questions appear to indicate that you are perhaps lacking in seriousness and somewhat of a player. i would advise you from personal experience--don't make that mistake! It's deadly!

ABBA'S FOOL,
ephraim

 

[Henry Peterson]

Thank you all for your insight and your responses. I feel the need to respond to a couple of points raised by ephraimanesti before continuing:

Take note that your life becomes your service to God, and YOU fit into IT, not the other way around.

I was rather expecting something like that to crop up eventually. See, one of the reasons that my life is so empty, is that I was badly injured in a car crash five years ago. Time is one of those things, however, that I have in abundance. With that in mind, though...

We fit into Christianity--NOT mold it to our preferences and schedules.

Alright... so the reason I was asking this question was - and if you've been following my journey, you'll know that, and I'll get to your hurtful accusation in a minute - there simply isn't any way to get around on a sunday on a bus route that only exists six days per week :/

Your questions appear to indicate that you are perhaps lacking in seriousness

I was told that if I have any questions, I should ask them. Since I'm searching for answers in my life right now, I've been researching, but you can't find all the answers on your own, as you said. So, I asked the questions that represented the stumbling blocks that came up. Accusing me in such a hurtful way accomplishes nothing except to make me feel that perhaps I don't belong here after all! If the issue is my lack of knowledge... why would I be seeking knowledge if I knew it all already? You are all my first experience of Christians since the age of five. So far, that experience has been positive. Please don't ruin it.

 

[Mr Dave]

How important do you all feel it is to go to Church and worship on a specific day each week? Surely if God is everywhere, you could equally well stay home and worship from home? Or you could go to a service on a different day that fits in better with your life, when you could concentrate more on the act of worship than a hurried service first thing on Sunday morning?

Good questions I guess from your bio on your profile page not having been since a child, it can seem odd that Christians profess that God is everywhere and then use their Sundays to meet to worship him, in what you remember as being hurried services where people just went through the motions. If you were CoE, then West Yorkshire has a habit of being fairly 'high church' which could have made it seem like this to a 5 year old (nothing wrong with high church, just that that may be your memory of it). Dunno why West Yorks has a habit of being more High than than the rest of Yorkshire but it does (especially where I used to live ) I'm making assumptions here, I don't know what experiences you've actually had, but I might guess something like that.

God is everywhere and there is personally worshipping Him always; for me that can be sitting down and reading The Bible, praying, cracking out a few songs/hymns on the guitar, recognising Him in the world etc...
There is something special and important though about corporate worship and coming together as the Body of Christ; Synagogue means 'coming together' I believe, as does it's greek counterpart, ecclesia. As Jesus rose on Sunday, by coming together on Sunday as well as worshipping with the rest of the body (Christianity is not a solitary religion) Christians proclaim the most important thing about their faith, that Jesus rose from the dead.
The Sunday service should be an act of worship and not a 'hurried service' if it is like that, then there's a problem. There's nothing wrong with meeting on other days as well, but Sunday has a special place because of what it means.

 

[ephraimanesti]

I was rather expecting something like that to crop up eventually. See, one of the reasons that my life is so empty, is that I was badly injured in a car crash five years ago. Time is one of those things, however, that I have in abundance. With that in mind, though...

MY FRIEND,

Nowhere did i see mention of your injury--that, of course, places a whole different light--and a whole different logistical set of problems--on the subject. My apologies!

Alright... so the reason I was asking this question was - and if you've been following my journey, you'll know that, and I'll get to your hurtful accusation in a minute - there simply isn't any way to get around on a sunday on a bus route that only exists six days per week :/

Any Church which is truly a part of the Body of Christ exists solely to glorify their Lord and spiritually succor His brothers and sisters according to their needs. Arrangements can easily be made through the Pastor, Priest, Vicar, or whatever for transportation to/from services.

There was no "hurtful accusation" entended. As mentioned above, i don't spend much time around C.F. due to other commitments, so i haven't "been following your journey" and nowhere in this Thread did i see mention of your accident or it's present effects on your mobility. Forgive me if i overlook something.

I was told that if I have any questions, I should ask them. Since I'm searching for answers in my life right now, I've been researching, but you can't find all the answers on your own, as you said. So, I asked the questions that represented the stumbling blocks that came up. Accusing me in such a hurtful way accomplishes nothing except to make me feel that perhaps I don't belong here after all! If the issue is my lack of knowledge... why would I be seeking knowledge if I knew it all already? You are all my first experience of Christians since the age of five. So far, that experience has been positive. Please don't ruin it.

Again, i did not "accuse" you of anything--i merely shared my impressions of yourpost gleaned from what you wrote based, unfortunately, on a lack of the full picture of your situation on my part--for which i apologize a final time.

i think my answers to your questions remain valid.

MAY YOU BE BLESSED, HEALED, AND LED HOME BY OUR LORD!

ABBA'S FOOL,
ephraim

 

[Henry Peterson]

Nowhere did i see mention of your injury--that, of course, places a whole different light--and a whole different logistical set of problems--on the subject. My apologies!

Your apology is gratefully accepted. The simple reason that I hadn't mentioned it is that I didn't think it was relevant. I wasn't aware that individual circumstances mattered with respect to my question. Now that I know it is relevant, I'll go and update my profile, with my thanks for enlightening me.

 

[ephraimanesti]

Your apology is gratefully accepted. The simple reason that I hadn't mentioned it is that I didn't think it was relevant. I wasn't aware that individual circumstances mattered with respect to my question. Now that I know it is relevant, I'll go and update my profile, with my thanks for enlightening me.

MY FRIEND,

i hope you can understand how, to Christians who have been gathering together to praise and worship their Lord on Sundays for 2000 years might look with suspicion on someone who asks why they can't worship alone at home or on another day of the week--if they are not aware of the mobility problem you are suffering from or the fact that your local bus system is not conducive to getting from A to B easily on Sundays?

In any event, enough said. i look forward to seeing what comes out of your investigation and questions. May they lead you into Abba's arms.

i would encourage you to investigate the web-sites of the Churches in your area and, when you find one that sounds like it might be a good fit, contact them regarding the possibility of arranging transportation for you to their services. i would bet much that they would be most honored to do so.

ABBA'S FOOL,
ephraim

 

[MattRose]

Hi Henry,
It's got to be a pain (pun intended) to inform people of your mobility issues all the time. You rightly assume it isn't necessary to let strangers know about your accident every time you speak. I'll bet it's uncomfortable for both you and them when they backtrack and apologize for not knowing.

That said, I also thought you might be asking a leading question so that you could then pounce on an assuming responder. It's the price of admission here. Lot's of arguments occur on this forum and one quickly becomes jaded. Many of us see "leading" questions where they don't exist.

In the context of your accident, your question makes perfect sense. The bad news is I don't have any advice to give you relating to your original inquiry. Some people here will disagree and say that if I don't have any advice for you, then that's good news.

 

[CryptoLutheran]

Christian worship is fundamentally communal. Our spirituality happens in community, as the Church. In fact the highlight of Christian worship, at least traditionally, is oftentimes called Communion; the Eucharist. Because our lives as Christians are intimately bound and interwoven with one another, because corporately we are the Body of Jesus Christ in this world. That means gathering together and "doing" liturgy: prayers, hymns, confession and absolution, making peace and being united in like mind and in like faith through our communal and corporate offering of worship to God.

We can do this any day, and arguably many, if not most, churches offer worship throughout the week. However from nearly the beginning Christians have gathered weekly on the first day of the week for this express purpose.

Most religions have some form of rhythm, and that only makes sense since our lives are rhythmic. Day and night, weeks, months, seasons and years. There are natural rhythms in life. People have, throughout history, found ways to sacralize time. Christians do the same, there is the weekly rhythm of the first day of the week being gathered together to come together in worship, to receive Word and Sacrament. Christianity also sacralizes time through the Liturgical Year, with seasons, feast days and fasts. So, for example, yes we can and should celebrate the Mystery of the Incarnation throughout the year, but we specifically set aside certain time in the year for that purpose that becomes part of an organic rhythm in the Liturgical Year--we call it Christmas.

Since Christianity isn't centered upon individual spirituality, but the communal sharing of life together in Christ we do things together, as a community, as the Church. Not that individual spirituality is unimportant, only that my individual spirituality arises principally out from my corporate life in the Body of Christ. I could read Scripture all the time, but it's not the same as receiving the Word as spoken when we are gathered together. And one cannot celebrate the Eucharist alone, by its very nature it is a communal moment where the Church celebrates the deepest mystery of our unity together as the Body of Christ--that is, we are the Body of Christ because we receive the Body of Christ.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Henry Peterson]

CryptoLutheran, you obviously put a lot of thought into your answer as did everyone else here. Thank you all for helping me to understand.

 

[htmanning]

I don't think it's a deal breaker if you worship on Saturday. It seems to me choosing a day is simply tradition, however the Bible does say that God rested on the seventh day. So perhaps God did pick a day. My question is, why not just follow what people have accepted for years? Sunday seems to work just fine.

 

[Henry Peterson]

(quotes shortened to the parts I'm addressing, click arrows for context)

why not just follow what people have accepted for years? Sunday seems to work just fine.

Thanks for your advice; in response to your question, I'll quote my earlier reply:

there simply isn't any way to get around on a sunday on a bus route that only exists six days per week.

Knowing whether that would be a deal-breaker, as you succinctly put it, is essential to the question of whether or not Christianity is worth further study for me. Since the consensus seems to be that it's not a huge problem, it's not something I need to worry about. Thanks again

 

[ephraimanesti]

(quotes shortened to the parts I'm addressing, click arrows for context)


Thanks for your advice; in response to your question, I'll quote my earlier reply:


Knowing whether that would be a deal-breaker, as you succinctly put it, is essential to the question of whether or not Christianity is worth further study for me. Since the consensus seems to be that it's not a huge problem, it's not something I need to worry about. Thanks again

MY BROTHER,

As you and others state, worshipping on Sunday is not "a deal breaker" as far as far is concerned. To be fully in His will in this matter is to worship Him 24/7.

However, Christianity is not amenable to participation in isolation and, as mentioned before, consensus from the beginning is that Christians meet together for worship on Sundays. Finding meaningful services could be more problematic than arranging Church-provided transportation on Sundays.

Also, your continued insistence that things must go your way and be arranged to meet your needs and desires or not be "worthy of further study" is somewhat troubling--even knowing a little about the context. When one surrenders to God, God works things out. He does not, however, work things out to induce us to surrender. We do not have to jump through hoops and "earn" His Love, but neither is the reverse true.

ABBA'S FOOL,
ephraim

 

[Daniel25]

saturday evening mass counts as sunday.

 

[zaksmummy]

Dear Henry Peterson,

I am a little different, in that althought I am a christian, I take Fri eve/Satuarday as my day of rest, because God took the seventh day and rested on it, its called the Sabbath. This was an eternal commandent given the children of Israel, which we can share through our faith in the Jewish Messiah, Jesus.

So now I prepare a festive meal for friday evening, share it with my friends who feel likewise that they wish to set apart the day as holy to God. So we do not regular work, no housework etc and try (not always easy with small children) to focus on family and God for that day. Then we go to church with our church family on Sunday.

Whichever you choose to do God will honour you in it as you honour him.

 

[Justsomedude]

Dear Henry Peterson,

I am a little different, in that althought I am a christian, I take Fri eve/Satuarday as my day of rest, because God took the seventh day and rested on it, its called the Sabbath. This was an eternal commandent given the children of Israel, which we can share through our faith in the Jewish Messiah, Jesus.

This has nothing to do with the rest of this thread but I felt it should be addressed.

Jesus is NOT the Jewish messiah. Christians and Jews have very different ideas of what a messiah is and as such, Jesus does not fit the Jewish view of the messiah at all. And so it is completely wrong to refer to Jesus in this way.

Also it's offensive in severaly ways. It makes you appear as though you are somehow speaking for the Jews when, as a nonjew, you have no right to do so.

You have no business at all suggesting that Jews hold Jesus as their messiah when they do not.

Also, it is no secret at all that Jews do not hold that Jesus is the messiah and so to refer to him in this way is to be utterly dismissive to the views, feelings and religious practice of the entire Jewish population on the entire planet. To give you an idea of how this is viewed, imagine if Muslims started calling themselves "Mohammudic Christians" and refered to Mohammud as "the last Christian Prophet."

I don't object to calling him the Christian messiah or even just the messiah but please reframe from referring to Jesus as the Jewish Messiah. There is no reason in the world for you to cross that line.