Sunday is Not Worship

The Church of Christ habitually calls what we do on Sundays and Wednesdays, in fact for every assembly, worship. We have even identified five acts of worship: praying, singing, preaching, giving, and the Lord's Supper.

 

Not being any reference to these practices as "items of worship" in the Bible the reference grew out of the Restoration Movement

 

Since members of the Church of Christ are big on commands, examples and necessary inferences considering them to be worship confuses people to say praying for ourselves, singing to each other, giving to ourselves, listening to preaching are items of worship and primarily nonparticipatory at that being sit and listen (the two items we can actually participate in are targeted for reducing to a minimum the time spent involved in them). All of that could be certainly edifying but worship?

 

Paul told the members of the church in Rome each should present their body a living sacrifice and what we do on Sundays is hardly that. Members are generous with their money but often not with their time. Sunday is not a day of worship. Attending requires involvement. Being present requires involvement. Leaving to present our body a living sacrifice requires involvement. 

 

In an attempt to reduce the brain drain of young people from the assembly everything we do should be supported by the Bible. They want to worship and they want to be involved and their questions indicate they do not accept standard explanations or definition of what is acceptable or unacceptable and certainly not our lack of involvement.

 

For years the church has accepted as inevitable that people will not attend Bible classes, Sunday Evenings and Wednesday Evenings. Who knows what would be if everything was more than sit and listen? Worship is not sitting and listening. That is the OT priesthood between the people and God as well as Catholic the priest being always between the people and Christ. The people do no need someone standing between them an God. We are all priests. We worship Jehovah directly. Worship requires involvement.

 

Calling Sunday worship, which the Bible does not, the people are encouraged to believe they have completed their worship for the week with no further need for further involvement.

 

Since there is no reference to these practices as items of worship church leaders should not consider them such. They items mentioned can be but the way we practice them they are not. If our practices come out of the Restoration Movement we are no longer the church Jesus established on Pentecost we are the church established in the 1800s. The physical things you mention are not part of anything but facilitate the activities.

 

In the business community it is said insanity is doing the same thing but expecting different results.

 

Is the church insane?