Hey Church!

In C.S. Lewis’ brilliant work, The Screwtape Letters, the reader is given a peek inside the correspondence of the Devil (named Screwtape) with his demons. Screwtape writes letters to a young apprentice-demon, Wormwood, to coach him in the ways of deception, pursuant to their work of leading people away from their immortal Enemy (God). What you learn along the way are the subtle, clandestine tactics the Devil uses to divide and destroy believers in Christ.

The sixteenth letter begins, 

“My dear Wormwood,

You mentioned casually in your last letter that the patient has continued to attend one church, and one only, since he was converted, and that he is not wholly pleased with it. May I ask what you are about? Why have I no report on the causes of his fidelity to the parish church? Do you realise that unless it is due to indifference it is a very bad thing? Surely you know that if a man can’t be cured of churchgoing, the next best thing is to send him all over the neighbourhood looking for the church that ‘suits’ him until he becomes a taster or connoisseur of churches… the search for a ‘suitable’ church makes the man a critic where the Enemy wants him to be a pupil.”*

A critical heart is contrary to the spirit of Christian worship. When we gather together on Sundays, we are pupils first; we come to learn from God and from one another. Being many members of one Body, the thing about church that one personality deems “unsuitable” may be the thing that is most precious to another. If we come as critics, one may judge the sermon to be dull and shallow while another hears in it the first cogent telling of the gospel of Christ. One who feels the music is overly effusive may be surprised to learn that the person standing to his right or left has, in the same song, encountered the living and palpable presence of God.

Besides being a chisel and hammer in the hand of God, diverse forms and personalities in worship reflect the incomprehensible character of Him who stands beyond the grasp of human intellect and experience. The worshiper who dances freely and the worshiper who stands still, eyes fixed heavenward, may simply see different aspects of the same eternal God. He is a God of joy as well as One acquainted with sorrow, is He not? The same God who cannot be described without relying on images and poetry is the Word made flesh who dwelt among us, to be known by us.

The best worshipers are those who can respect, appreciate, and learn from the perspective of their fellow journeymen. It requires humility to accept that we are but one member of the Body. So, let us come to worship this Sunday humbly, as pupils of God’s Word and character, as manifest in His visible Church.