Sermon #1 - Why are you here?

Why do you go to church? In her sermon Easter morning, April presented a nice alliteration of three different reasons people come to church, those being: Believe, Behave and Belong. Check out April's summary here: http://www.emmanuelmennonite.com/2013/04/11/why-are-you-here/

But why do I go to church? I would also say that I go for all three reasons above. I believe in Jesus and His community of the church. I grew up going to church and it was definitely an expected behaviour for all Christians to go to  church. It was a barometer to use when you wanted to know whether someone was a Christian- did they go to church? If yes, then they were. If not, then they probably weren't. Rather simplistic, I'd say now, and not entirely accurate. I also go to church because of the feeling of belonging. I belong there, with that group of people. I belong in Christ's physical manifestation of him- his church.

Some Sundays I go to church for one reason, and sometimes for another. I can truly say I am glad that I have found a local community that worships together a risen Saviour.

But another reason I go to church is to remind myself that it is not about me. Life and worship are not to be an individualistic experience. With so many things around me telling me that I need to do what's right for me and what feels good for me, and as I type on my iPad, I need the weekly reminder that I am part of a community. I am not the centre of the universe, and there is more to life than what I want or what I feel. And somehow that reason ties in all three above. I believe in Christ and his church and I behave in a certain way by attending regularly and I belong to this community.

I do believe that's why April followed up this sermon with the next one...."Why are We Here?"
Reactions to that are in the next blog entry....