Churches are places where believers come together to praise the Lord.  As long as it is not an obligation, it is a beautiful thing.  When it is not just to avoid mortal sin, it is the ultimate in prayerful thanksgiving for the things God has freely given us.  For some, church can be a release from the grind of daily living out the often tedious battle against the world, the flesh and the devil.  When church provides no relief, but is just a continuation of the struggle, no wonder people stampede to get out.

 

But if we make it a place of love and light, a place freely entered into, a place where we come together in the Lord, it is no longer tedious.  It is pure joy. 

 

So, go to church because you really long for it.  If people pressure you into it, it is just as tasteless as pablum.  But if you go because, like a deer yearning for running streams, you crave the Lord and the full communion with his people, then it is bliss on Earth.  Everything looks so beautiful inside, the people are no longer just in the way of what you might have done that day, but are indeed, brothers and sisters, closer than friends, and thus highly to be treasured.

 

Go to church because you want to, and it will be worth it.