Exhortation, Fourth Sunday After Epiphany

Many of you received an email this week encouraging you to be at church on time and rebuking those who are habitually tardy. Some got the impression that the elders don’t want you to show up at all if you’re running late. That’s not the point. If you’re unavoidably tardy – and most of us are at one time or another – come anyway. Better late than not at all.

And, of course, even if you come with time to spare, that doesn’t mean you’re in the clear. If you are inattentive, lukewarm, easily distracted, or half-hearted in worship, your punctuality is not much of a virtue. If your heart is far from God, it doesn’t matter if your lips are here 10 minutes early.

Habitual tardiness, inattentiveness, lukewarmness may reveal a fundamental problem in our attitude toward worship. These bad habits may reveal that we don’t really believe what we say we believe about worship.

Would you be late to your own wedding? Because this is the marriage supper of the lamb and you are the bride. If you were in the military, would you slouch during inspection? Because we come to this service as a platoon of the church militant to appear before our Commander. If you were performing as part of a choir or a rock band, would you whisper the lyrics? Because we are performing before the ultimate audience of Father, Son and Spirit. If God suddenly appeared in this room, would you give him a half-hearted casual greeting? Because He actually is here.

Scripture says, “you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all.” We all profess to believe that. Let’s make sure our conduct in worship matches our profession.