Many of us are thinking about the resumption of school, whether that means children returning to elementary school, high school, college or vocational school; we are returning to one of these ourselves; or just the differences in schedule that the fall brings when compared with summer.  Some are taking vacations before the resumption of "normal" schedules.  Others are squeezing in day trips.  The question is:  How does our practice of corporate worship fit in with all these plans?  Is it something we can skip or replace with a vacation or day trip?  Is it really all that important if we miss a Sunday? 

In my years of growing up our family was split on responding to those questions.  Since my dad wasn't a Christian and he only got to be home on weekends for the most part, and my mom was a Christian who wanted to be in worship for the most part, we were given a choice:  stay with dad at a small lake where we spent most of our summer weekends, or ride home with mom to go to church.  To be honest, I opted to spend a  lot of those Sunday mornings with my dad, while mom drove off to worship.  It was a pattern that didn't contribute to my overall growth and commitment to God's Church.  I still thought of God on those Sunday mornings, or at least many of them. Sometimes I felt guilty for not going to worship with my mom.  Most of the time, I just enjoyed the opportunity to swim, water ski or sleep in instead of driving the fifteen minutes back to Gipsy.  It developed an unhelpful attitude toward corporate worship:  worship is optional and may be replaced by other activities.  The more interesting the other activity the more likely it was to replace worship.

That didn't really change for me until my late teen years, when Andy Weigand became pastor at Gipsy Christian Church, and I saw someone who understood that commitment to Jesus was a first priority---AND who made Sunday worship--or at least Sunday messages--so interesting and powerful I didn't want to miss them.  At New Life our goal is to make worship worth the time you invest in participating.  We recognize that conflicts come up in everyone's schedule, but we don't see worship as one option among many.  It is a priority for us who want to grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ and live out our faith in Him with consistency.   All of us will miss a Sunday or two now and then, but even then, if it's because we're away, we have 350,000 churches to choose from in America, and even when Emmy and I were in Tibet last year, we were able to worship with other believers. 

Rick Warren says we become what we are committed to in life.  When it comes to corporate worship, what we do reveals our commitments.  I look forward to seeing you at worship tomorrow at 8:45 or 10:15, or if you'll be away, take some time today to worship at an evening service, or find where you may worship tomorrow.   If you have children, what you do will make an impression on them for a long time.  I know from personal experience that making Sunday worship optional lessens its priority, and it takes a lot to overcome that attitude later in life!

Let's pray:  Heavenly Father, thank You for being worthy of our worship and praise!  Glorify Yourself in all we are and do.  Fill us with Your Holy Spirit that we will make You our first priority today and every day. This we pray in Jesus' name.  Amen.