I’m a church person. Ever since I decided to be a Christian, I’ve loved Sunday mornings. Go grab a coffee, maybe a bagel, head to the building, worship, hear a message (hopefully) about trying to be more like Christ, go to lunch, and head home for a nap. Maybe one reason I enjoy the experience is the food before and after…But really, there are a few important things I think about church:
After God, it’s mostly about the people. Remember the children’s rhyme: “Here’s the church, Here’s the steeple, Open the doors, See all the people?” Jesus is all about people too. He spent his short life forming relationships with some weird and easy to shun people: Mary, the prostitute (Luke 7:8). Zacchaeus, the tax collector (Luke 19: 1-10).
That’s the beauty of church, wherever it is located, where there are two or more people, God is with us. Church is a place to be with.
As a rule, going there doesn’t make you a better person. But it’s helped me do that, and also made me realize that it’s not about being a better person at all.
I’ve been slowly learning that church isn’t at all about me. It’s not about the song I really like, or the message that was just okay that week. It’s about taking myself out of the picture and looking at the people around me.
And finally, at the top of the list, church is about the simple beauty of the gospel message. God loved us, so he sent his son to die and come to life again, for us, so that we could spend eternity with him. And that’s what I love the most.
Jesus’ death on the cross was the most true picture of love ever given to us. Another one though, is one of my favorite stories and the final reason I go to church, to be continually reminded of Jesus’ humility and holiness. It’s a picture of the Creator of the universe humbly bowing to his disciples to wash their feet, as an illustration of the necessity and importance of humility for everyone who claims to follow Christ. See John 13: 1- 17, below. – A
It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”
Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not everyone was clean.
When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
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