Hey, Church! 

This Labor Day weekend, I want to invite you to make the bold, countercultural decision to come to church! 

The late pastor and author Eugene Peterson once wrote, “One of the afflictions of pastoral work has been to listen, with a straight face, to all the reasons people give for not going to church: 

‘My mother made me when I was little.’ 

‘There are too many hypocrites in the church.’ 

‘It’s the only day I have to sleep in.’” 

Using Psalm 122 as a reference, Peterson gives three reasons why worship has been a constant, foundational practice throughout the history of the Church, even all the way back to its roots under the Old Covenant.

Let Us Go to the House of the Lord
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
122  

1 I was glad when they said to me,
    “Let us go to the house of the Lord!”
2 Our feet have been standing
    within your gates, O Jerusalem!
3 Jerusalem—built as a city
    that is bound firmly together,
4 to which the tribes go up,
    the tribes of the Lord,
as was decreed for Israel,
    to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
5 There thrones for judgment were set,
    the thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
    “May they be secure who love you!
7 Peace be within your walls
    and security within your towers!”
8 For my brothers and companions’ sake
    I will say, “Peace be within you!”
9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
    I will seek your good.

Worship is the common background to all Christian existence, which has been faithfully and willingly practiced for centuries. This psalm highlights three reasons (in Peterson’s words): “worship gives us a workable structure for life; worship nurtures our need to be in relationship with God; worship centers our attention on the decisions of God.” 

Worship gives us a workable structure for life. Verses 3 and 4 emphasize how Jerusalem was the place for worship. “When you went to Jerusalem, you encountered the great foundational realities: God created you, God redeemed you, God provided for you.” Through spoken word and rituals, worshipers were reminded of who God is and, by consequence, their sense of self and priorities of life were re-ordered unto His service. Without that framework holding all of us saints together, we will inevitably drift apart as each person pursues their own inner sense of purpose. When we come to church, from our various life-backgrounds and present-day stresses, we say, in essence, “We all want the same thing: life with God.” 

A second reason that worship is such a foundational practice for Christians comes from verse 4, in which it is God’s decree to His people to give Him thanks. Worshiping together “nurtures our need to be in relationship with God.” Peterson says, brilliantly: “Feelings are important in many areas but completely unreliable in matters of faith… We think that if we don’t feel something there can be no authenticity in doing it. But the wisdom of God says something different: that we can act ourselves into a new way of feeling much quicker than we can feel ourselves into a new way of acting. Worship is an act that develops feelings for God, not a feeling for God that is expressed in an act of worship.” 

Verse 5 highlights a third reason we keep engaging in regular acts of worship: the psalm describes worship as the place where “thrones for righteous judgment are set.” Judgment is how God sets all things in their rightful place. In the call to worship, we hear God’s first word to us, calling us out of our ordinary occupations to be fully occupied with Him. In the benediction, we hear God’s sending-out word, to be a blessing to our city. Between these two words, the Scriptures are read and expounded by a pastor who has spent the week wrestling with its meaning and application to the congregation. The songs generally paraphrase scriptural truths and give the saints words of response to sing back to God. “Every time we worship our minds are informed, our memories refreshed with the judgments of God, we are familiarized with what God says, what he has decided, the ways he is working out our salvation… There is simply no place where these can be done as well as in worship.” 

If your Labor Day weekend plans do not include attending church, let Psalm 122 (and 2,000 years of wisdom from our forebears in the faith) be a loving voice of correction. There is no football game, smoked meat, or family gathering that can offer you a workable structure for life, nurture your need to be in relationship with God, or center your attention on the decrees of God. 

If you wake up Sunday morning and feel like sleeping in, remember, “Worship does not satisfy our hunger for God–it whets our appetite. Our need for God is not taken care of by engaging in worship–it deepens. It overflows the hour and permeates the week. The need is expressed in a desire for peace and security. Our everyday needs are changed by the act of worship.”