WHY DO I HAVE TO GO TO CHURCH!?!??!
(can you hear the whine?)
The minister gave out his text and droned along
monotonously through an argument that was
so prosy that many a head by and by began to
nod - and yet it was an argument that dealt
in limitless fire and brimstone and thinned
the predestined elect down to a company so
small as to be hardly worth the saving.
from: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by: Mark Twain
For 32 years now-I've been going to Church-with nary a Sunday missed.
I put on a dress (ugh),put on makeup, and braced myself for the frigid temps of universally cold buildings. Sunday after Sunday I have coddled, preached, nudged, bribed, and even threatened our children to do the same. Sometimes I ask myself WHY!!!??? Why go to all this trouble. Why expend all this energy on quiet, early mornings, week in and week out?
Of course there are many, many reasons for my behavior. There really are too many to count. But this Sunday I find myself focusing on just one of those bountiful reasons.(maybemore like 2or3 when all is said and done.)
My hero-Sheri Dew- once said- "The best way to strengthen our personal testimonies and protect ourselves from evil is to seek to have as many experiences with the Lord as possible."
What better induction than in our beautiful chapels each Sunday? And more specifically, in our sacrament meetings?? Here-week after week we listen to the sacrament prayer, where the Master invites us to take upon us His name so that we will hopefully never forget whose we are!! WE ARE HIS CHILDREN!! The best benifit of going to church and of partaking of the sacrament is to seek and receive the blessing of his Spirit to be with us. And his Spirit is not sent to us to belittle us or to condemn us. Just like the Savior himself did not come to knock us down or condemn us. The Spirit is ours to LIFT us!! To LIGHTEN in every way!!
I go to Church to seek his Spirit-to be spiritually fed and rejuvenated. Because, as Truman Madsen wrote- "The gifts and fruits of the Spirit engulf all our deepest needs, whatever our present desires: insights, flashes of guidance, energy, all the virtues that center around Christ, and through them, all the fire that purifies our feelings and our aspirations. Yes, we come to the sacrament to renew covenants, but we also come to be renewed-- to be renewed with divine infusion--and then we increase in our strength to honor covenants with Him and with each other."
AMEN!!
WHAT I KNOW:
Tom Sawyer appeared to be uncomfortable at church. I am not.
And my children don't seem to be uncomfortable either. (bless them) Dear Tom needed to come to church with us!!
I will also try even harder to get the most that I can from my Sunday worship!!
HAVE A BLESSED SABBATH EVERYONE!!!
1 comment:
Good thoughts. I really like the quote by Shari Dew about the importance of having lots of experiences with God. I'll have to use that in my lesson this Sunday in RS! Thanks.
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