Why Go to Church? (Worship as a Meal)

Why go to church? These are some “standard” answers given by Christians.

Answer 1:

To worship God.

Response 1:

You mean we can’t worship God outside the context of church worship service? Isn’t our whole life supposed to be a worship to God?

Answer 2:

To set aside a special time for God, just like you’ll set aside a special time for your loved ones.

Response 2:

Well, why do we need to go to church then? Can’t we set aside a special time at home or other places? Maybe botanical gardens or mountains where we can get what Calvinists call sensus divinitatis (a sense of the divine)?

Answer 3:

To fellowship with other believers

Response 3:

That sounds good. But what if we don’t get to fellowship with other Christians? In fact, often times we don’t even know the names of those sitting next to us during worship service. So, what kind of fellowship are you talking about?

Answer 4:

To listen to God’s Word

Response 4:

My friend, where have you been? Don’t you know that there are a lot of online sermons in the internet? And those sermons are much better than my pastor’s sermons!

Answer 5:

To participate in the Eucharist

Response 5:

Oh, then I can just go to church four times a year. My home church celebrates it four times a year.

Answer 6:

To give tithe.

Response 6:

We can do it through i-banking.

Answer 7:

To obey God’s command

Response 7:

Really? Please show me which God’s command you’re referring to then we can discuss again.

So, why go to church? I’ve tried to show in a simple way (hopefully not too simplistic) that the “standard” answers provided by Christians to the question are inadequate. I suggest that it may be more helpful to see worship (I’m referring to worship service) as a meal.

Why do we eat? The most basic answer to this is because we are humans. It’s as simple as that. Humans need to eat. Eating is part of human nature. Sometimes we eat for the sake of surviving. We don’t enjoy the food, but we eat whatever available to us because we need to eat. We are hungry. We are humans. At other times, we eat to really enjoy good food. When we are sick, we tend to skip meals. But this often makes us feel even worse. We need to eat. It’s just part and parcel of being humans. When we eat, sometimes we get what we want (feeling full, feeling satisfied, etc). But many times we don’t get what we want. However, we don’t stop eating. We eat because we are humans. So, the question “Why do we eat?” is not supposed to be asked in the first place. We, humans, just eat.

In a similar way, why do we go to church? Why do we participate in worship services? We go to church because we are Christians. Christians simply go to church. Going to church is part and parcel of being a Christian. It’s as simple as that. When we go to church, sometimes we get what we want. We want to sing praises to God. We want to hear good sermons so that they can help us to grow deeper in our faith. We want to have a good fellowship so that we’ll be encouraged to persevere in following the LORD in the midst of the challenges we face. Sometimes we do get all these good stuffs. But sometimes, hopefully not too often, we just don’t get them. This shouldn’t stop us from going to church. There may be times when we feel sick spiritually and don’t feel like going to church. This shouldn’t stop us from going to church too. Just like skipping meals will make us feel worse when we’re sick, skipping worship services will make us worse when we are in such condition. So, Christians shouldn’t ask “Why go to church?” in the first place. Christians just go to church. Christians just participate in worship services. This is part of their nature as Christians. Christians desire to see and experience the coming kingdom of God at which the Church is pointing and of which the Church be a sign. Because of our sinfulness, this desire is often misdirected. Christians are to redirect it through their participation in the life of the Church.

How Long, O Lord?

Ever since I started my theological study at Trinity Theological College in 2006, I began to greatly appreciate the richness and diversity of Christian traditions. I had always felt excited whenever I had the chance to be involved in what was usually called ‘ecumenical movement'. So, last night was a delightful evening. I participated in the Prayer for Christian Unity 2011 in Singapore. It was held at the Church of Divine Mercy. This prayer is actually an annual international event, endorsed by the World Council of Churches and the Vatican. So, it is quite disheartening that not many local churches even know about this annual prayer. And I notice that, in Singapore context, it is the same group of priests and pastors who are involved in this prayer. I recall what a Methodist pastor here in Singapore told me two years ago. He said that his presence in the prayer was controversial (due to Roman-Catholic-phobia prevalent among Protestants). A friend of mine who is currently serving in a Presbyterian church in Indonesia also tells me that they are not holding this prayer. Enough with disappointments…

We had four speakers last night: Dr. Roy Joseph (Mar Thoma Syrian Church) presenting "The Apostles' Teaching", Rev. Dr. Edward Pousson (Victory Family Centre – Asia Theological Centre for Evangelisation & Mission) presenting "Fellowship", Rev. Dr. Lorna Khoo (Aldersgate Methodist Church) presenting "Breaking of Bread", and Rev. Dr. Joseph Goh (Anglican Church of the Good Shepherd) presenting "Prayer". What I appreciated the most was the presentation by Rev. Dr. Lorna Khoo. All the four speakers were passionate about what they were sharing. But what made Rev. Dr. Khoo different was her honest sharing about her own struggle with regard to Christian unity. She was assigned to speak on the Eucharist. Before she started her sharing, she remarked that she was given the most difficult topic so she requested for time extension (they are supposed to speak only for 8-10 minutes).

She explained that there are three different practices among churches in relation to the Eucharist: closed table, open table, and free table. Closed table means only those baptized within that particular Christian tradition are eligible to partake in the Eucharist. This is practiced by the Roman Catholics. Open table means only those baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – no matter in which Christian traditions they are baptized – are allowed to eat the bread and drink the wine. This is the practice of most Protestant churches. Free table means anyone, including those outside of Christianity, can partake in the Eucharist. She argued that perhaps it is the image of the Eucharist as a family meal which makes Christians unable to agree on this matter. The result of the image of family meal, according to her, is the exclusion of those who are not part of the family. This is how Roman Catholics have excluded Protestants from their Eucharist. Considering that the prayer was held in a Roman Catholic church building, I truly saluted her for daring to say boldly that the Roman Catholics have been inhospitable to Protestants in this matter. She suggested that the way forward is perhaps to see the Eucharist as the meal of the presence of Christ. All Christians will not disagree that in the Eucharist Christ is present, whether it is real presence, spiritual presence or whatever presence. One thing is sure: Christ is present. Seeing from this perspective, she suggested that perhaps there should be a room for free table practice because Christ, who is present in the Eucharist, welcomes everyone.

I am aware that the issues are much more complicated than what she tried to explain. But, even though she may sound simplistic (mind you, the attendees were mainly lay people and not professional theologians), her boldness and courageous attempt to do her part in reconciling different Christian traditions in relation to this debatable issue is undoubtedly commendable. For it is the Lord of the Church Himself who desires that Christ’s disciples may become one, just as God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one.

When reaching home, my friend Joshua, who also attended the prayer, asked me, “So, when will the churches really become one visible body of Christ?” I spontaneously answered, “When Christ comes again.” This is indeed D-Day which I am looking forward to. And I am not alone. All Christians (Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Mainline Protestant, Pentecostal, Charismatic), I believe, are looking forward to that very day when Christ will come again. In the mean time, we should continuously cry out, “How long, O Lord?”