why do we worship together?

I've been questioning the value of corporate worship.

If I could have, I would have recorded a conversation I had about this last week, since it was that conversation that squeezed a lot of thoughts out of me. I'll just have to do my best to reconstruct some of those thoughts now.

At the core of my questioning was a perceived disjunction between what I understand to be the purpose of church (specifically, Sunday morning services), and the result of our Sunday morning worship. The purpose of our Sunday morning services is manifold, but of course one of them, in my opinion, has to be the development of lateral relationships between us. If we come to the service and truly experience God, that's a wonderful thing. But you don't have to be with people to experience God. We can experience God alone in the wonder and mystery of nature, or in the quiet solitude of our homes early in the morning.

So why bother coming together on Sunday morning? Because we get energy and encouragement from being with other believers. That's the easy answer. The truer answer for some of us may be routine. Or because some of us still believe that God likes us better when we come to church. Blech. . .what a thought. I'm afraid all have been true for me at one point or another.

My argument last week was this: if we come on Sunday purely for personal edification and worship, that is in fundamental opposition to the chief aim of a corporate service. Even if we have what we later call a "good service," have we not missed something if no relationships between us were strengthened? If the worship and the word were both amazing, and we leave feeling closer to God than ever before, but we don't feel closer to one another, was the service everything it could have been?

That's a tough question. It's hard to say anything can be better than getting closer to God, and there's no biblical justification (that I know of) for the opposite view. If getting personally closer to God requires, or is even just made easier by, a corporate setting (live worship music, listening to the sermon together, etc.), then that's a good thing. But is that really everything Sunday morning can do for us (now by us I'm referring to ROL)? I truly hope we are all personally growing closer to God as a result of coming to church on Sundays, but I also hope we're coming to encourage others, as much as to be encouraged ourselves.

I feel like this is a scramble of ideas. So let me try to unify them with something I just read. I trust God's words to convey thoughts far more than my own: This is in II Chronicles 5 (NKJ). Context? Solomon has just finished building the temple, and the ark has just been placed in the inner sanctuary.

13 indeed it came to pass, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying: "For He is good, For His mercy endures forever," that the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, 14 so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.

Has that ever happened at ROL? If so, I'm afraid I was busy playing songs on my guitar. Don't get me wrong, I believe God has done amazing things in our services. And we have the promise of God being present when we gather in His name. I'm not questioning that aspect. But at the same time, I don't think we've experienced God's glory that way. Bummer.

My thoughts then: corporate worship tends to facilitate personal edification. That's a good thing, but it does seem to violate the basic purpose of corporately gathering to worship.

My thoughts now: corporate worship gives us the opportunity to feel the weight of God's glory! When we reach the level of unity in praise and thanksgiving the Israelites did that day, look what happens. Personal edification, corporate edification. . .they're both trivial compared to the possibilities of experiencing God's glory.

I'll be honest, I didn't see where this was going when I started writing. But I think I've just clarified something here. We worship corporately because that setting allows for God's glory to fall in a way that no personal setting does (or seems to do). Seems simple, I guess. It gets complicated when we actually try to praise "as one."

Thanks in advance for your comments.

Jeff