Why Do You Go To Church? - Henriette Nshan Tem Asks!

Dear Friends!. Today is Sunday, and more than 75℅ of us on this platform are Christians in multiple dimensions.

By multiple dimensions, I mean Priests, Pastors, Preachers, Choir Leaders, Choristers, Lectors, Church Wardens, Ushers, or members of a congregation.
 
Some are already in the church, while others like me are still preparing because I will attend but the second mass. But the big question is, why do we go to church? 

Is it to worship God the Creator of our every being? 
Is it to go and showcase our new clothes? 
Is it to go and see who wears what so we can have a topic of gossip? 
Is it for formalities to mark present and to fill the church benches and hall, or fulfil your obligations as a child of God? Is it to go and mock people who bring their burdens to God?

As Christians, we should know that the church is God's House, where we go and communion with him in Spirit and in Truth. It is where so many of us seek refuge from our earthly battlegrounds. It is where we obtain Mercy and Compassion. It is where our mortal bodies are nourished with the Eternal Word. It is where we find rest. It is just where we are supposed to be any day any time. It is where we meet our Creator and worship Him in the beauty of His Holiness.

As a Catholic Christian that I am, when I go to church, talkless of receiving the Blessed Sacrament when I am holding a grudge against someone, I let go of everything that would hinder my peace with God, and come out whole again, with plenty of anointing to face the world.

If I am angry with someone or something, and I attempt to pray, my prayers do not flow at all, because I am holding someone in my heart. Worse of all if I have caused someone pains, I can't even face myself, and I do my best to reach out to that person before I can pray a sincere prayer.

Last Friday, I went to the market and met a sister, who is a strong member of the Catholic Women Association. I was glad to see her after about three months, and we were complimenting each other on God's Faithfulness in our lives which was evident in our looks.
Why Do You Go To Church?
Why Do You Go To Church?
This sister is the reason why I decided to do this post this Sunday. There is a sister in our Parish whose misfortune has befallen and she is in the same branch with Aunty Church-Goer ACG).

The Aunty in Crisis(AIC) has accepted her fate in the misfortune befalling her and is trusting God in acceptance to her cross, carrying it faithfully in all humility to the House of God in prayers and Thanksgiving.

ACG asked if I have seen AIC lately, and I said no and asked why. ACG said I should have been in church for the first mass last Sunday to join the bench of other Christians, who laughed their lungs out. ACG said AIC wore Okrika(second-hand clothes) to church and matched it with a Chinese shoe and bag.

I listened and watched her in shock, as she said AIC was owing to some money in the group, and group members are planning to disgrace her. She said so many horrible things about her sister in Christ and was even jubilating that rumours had it that AIC's husband had an Agatha.

Come on! A Christian jubilating at another Christian's misfortune.

Dear friends, I looked at Aunty Church-Goer and asked "Booh why do go to church?" "Are you truly a Christian?" She asked why and was laughing. I told her how disappointed I was with her and her group members, who act and behaves like her.

AIC is a sister in Christ, who has been with you for years, sharing sweet fellowship with you, praying with you and communing with you in the Body of Christ. There is that same sister, who fueled her car and carried you to church group meetings in her glorious days. That same sister paid all her group dues and contributions on time, help contributed to others and did many good things for the church and the groups to which she belonged.

Today, plagued with the misfortune, and while trying to survive the storms of life in all humility, those who are supposed to pray for her are the very ones mocking her and planning to make a public show of her.

Fellow Christians, is that what is being preached to us? As Christians, we are called to pray for our brothers and sisters, not mock them. "And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before." Job 42:10.

Job’s personal discipline was not complete till he passed from the sphere of his own sorrows to the work of intercession for his friends, and it was through the very act of this self-oblivion and self-sacrifice that his own deliverance was brought about. When he prayed for his friends, we are told, the Lord turned his own captivity: that is, restored and re-instated him in prosperity even greater than before.

Dear friends, there is much blessing in praying for others.

How do you have the courage to go into the Lord's Presence in His House, and laugh at someone who has brought their burdens to the Lord?

Many of us like Aunty Church-Goer do not even know why we go to Church. We go to see how people dress. We go to laugh at others. We go to show off, and that same Aunty Church-Goer has angered me so many times in church to the extent that I make sure I sit far from her and her distractions.

During communion, instead of her praying or singing with the choir, she would be tapping you to see who is wearing what. Is that why she goes to Church?.

I have always loved to attend French masses, so most Thursday and Saturday evenings, I attend Masses at St. Louis Parish Bonaberi. It is a French Parish.

There was this particular Priest, who is of Blessed memory today, who used to preach very well, but in a low tone, which is of his nature.

When he climbs on the pulpit, people just start grumbling. I one day asked to the hearing of the next three benches in front and behind me that "if you are grumbling and making noise, how would you hear what he is preaching?".

He already has a low voice, what the church needs when he is preaching is dead silence, so that that behind can hear him. But because many people hated his low voice, they used it as an opportunity to distract everyone. They came to church to condemn the Man of God which is WRONG. You better not go to Church if you are going to distract others.

Dear friends, as you go in and out of Church today, search your minds. Have you been able to leave your grudges against your spouse, children, siblings, group members etc at the foot of the Cross during fellowship and worship today? Choir members hanging against each other, are you singing for the Glory of God or for your earth pride and vainglory?

The Lord's prayer says "Forgive us our sins, as WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO SIN AGAINST US". How do you go in and out of the Church, when you are not able to forgive mere mortals like you? Do you expect God's forgiveness if you cannot forgive?.

Ask yourselves dear friends this Sunday morning, WHY DO I GO TO CHURCH? WHAT IS REQUIRED OF ME AS SOMEONE WHO SITS ON THE FRONT BENCH IN CHURCH EVERY DAY? WHAT IS REQUIRED OF ME AS A MAN OR WOMAN OF GOD, WHO MOUNTS THE PULPIT TO BLESS AND LEAD SOULS TO CHRIST EVERY DAY? DO I PREACH THE DO-AS-I- SAY AND NOT DO-WHAT-I-PREACH GOSPEL?

When we search ourselves inside out, some of us would realize that most of those we see and call Pagans would enter the Golden Gate of Heaven, while we the Christians would be trying to justify that we were in church every Sunday. And God will ask you:

"MY DARLING CHILD, WHY WERE YOU GOING TO CHURCH?".
 
Answer that question sincerely and make amends before it becomes too late.
Good morning house, and Happy Sunday to all Church-Goers and True Children of God.


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