Sacredness of the Assembly

Yesterday, I had the great joy of being able to return to my former church home in Abilene, Highland Church of Christ.  They are in the midst of a summer series entitled "Sacred" looking at the importance of things of faith.

In the service yesterday, Ben Siburt spoke on the sacredness of the assembly.  If you come from a faith tradition and history like mine, you well know the verse in Hebrews 10:25 which speaks of not forsaking the assembly...which in the minds of many in my faith heritage means you better be at church no matter what.

I am glad that my heritage values this, because it means we place great importance on the things that we do on Sunday mornings (or nights, or Wednesday nights.

However, Ben made an interesting observation that has really resonated with me the past 24 hours.  He pointed out that maybe in order to make the assembly more sacred is to recognize the sacredness of the things outside of the hour and a half we spend in worship on Sunday.

This is a not a new concept for most of us.  I think most would desire that their entire lives be "worshipful."  However, my understanding has often been that our Sunday worship should be what transforms the other hours of our week, but what if we reversed that by being fully engaged in the sacredness of everyday life.  How would that, then, affect our worship?

As a worship leader, I often tell people to "bring what they have" instead of "put all your worries/cares aside" etc...but I'm thinking I need to expand that thought to "bring all the things that God has given you this week.  Bring all of the ways the Kingdom of Heaven has been revealed to you this week."

Explore and recognize the sacredness of life and let's see what God can do in our worship assemblies.

You can hear Ben's sermon here.