Fillet or Gerber?

I checked my email today and there it sat in my inbox, another email with "fw" in the subject line. Two letters that might seem harmless enough, but it's those two letters that everybody dreads. Honestly, I usually go straight to the delete button upon seeing such letters in the subject line, but decided not to this time. After I got past the other 1.2 million people that it had been forwarded from (If you're going to send forwards, clean them up at least!) I finally got to the text. Here is what it said:

Why Go To Church?

A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all." This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher: "I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this.. They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today.
Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!"

Let me start out by stating that I looove the person that sent this to me (in case you happen to be reading this entry) and I understand what whoever wrote this meant, but even though I understand this person's intent, it is wrong.

Part of the problem in modern times is many think, just as this writer wrote, that the purpose of the church is to be our only source of spiritual nourishment. No wonder the church looks so anorexic. I would like to ask the person who wrote in to the newspaper what he or she would look like if they only ate once a week?

Going to church (in the context of the building where the believers gather) is a time and place set aside to worship God together as a gathered people, or family. While we are there, we worship the Almighty God through song and his Word being taught (preaching). We do this because the scriptures tell us that it pleases God to do so. Are we fed while we are there, yes (at least in some churches, but that's a different blog for a different time) but that should be a starting point for the week, not the only time we feed ourselves! The same way we eat everyday, we should be nourishing ourselves everyday, not just on Sundays at church. We do this outside of church with prayer, reading the scriptures for ourselves (with the grace of the Holy Spirit to help us understand what we are reading), fellowship with other believers, and enjoying the life that God has given us! If we just do this on Sunday, if we just take in spiritual nourishment when the preacher is preaching, we will never grow. We will wilt up like a flower, shriveling up into nothing.

We forget what a privilege it is to even have the Scriptures here in the good 'ol U.S. of A. I wish we realized the value, taste, and fulfillment of the feast we have the opportunity to eat of everyday. A full course meal with all the trimmings! Sadly, some would rather have spoon fulls of baby food fed to them once a week. Going to church once a week and hearing a real sermon (and I don't count "7 ways to whatever" as a real sermon) won't sustain your health. Run to the King's table and devour the fillet and drink the wine that the King is serving, pass up the Gerber. It is yours for the taking.....