Worship is Like Going to Grandma’s House

I have a lot of good memories about going to Grandma’s house for a visit. Grandma’s house was a special place; and those visits were special times. Christian worship is a lot like that!

THERE’S A WARMTH THERE! You could feel the warmth the moment you walked in the door. Perhaps the warmth came from the old cookstove in the kitchen. Perhaps the warmth came from her loving hugs and kisses. You felt good about being at Grandma’s house.

THERE’S A CLOSENESS THERE! We’re family. Every time we walk through her door, it’s like coming home. And no matter how long the prodigal has been away and no matter what he’s done, this is home. When you come home, you are loved and accepted and welcomed because you’re family!

PEACE AND HARMONY PREVAIL! My sister and I didn’t always get along too well. I didn’t always get along with my many cousins. Grandma, however, had a rule: When you’re in my house, you don’t fight and fuss! So, we learned to put our differences aside. We learned that we could get along together; in fact, we did get along with each other when we were at Grandma’s. We also enjoyed a lot of good time together.

THERE WAS CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION! Something was always going on at Grandma’s. We never knew what to expect; but we knew it would be fun. There was a joy in getting together, sharing our good times and our bad times. There was a joy in doing the same old things over and over again. There was joy in doing new things, together. That’s why we looked forward to going to Grandma’s house.

THERE WAS ALWAYS SOMETHING GOOD TO EAT! There was always more food on the table that you’d find anywhere else. Plus, the food seemed to taste better at Grandma’s house. Maybe it was because she was such a good cook. Maybe is was because she put a lot of love and caring into here cooking. And maybe it was just sitting around the people whom you loved, and who loved you in return. We always came away well-fed and satisfied, with a good taste in our mouth.

WORSHIP IS LIKE GOING TO GRANDMA’S HOUSE!

WE COME BECAUSE WE WANT TO! We know that God loves us; we love Him in return. It’s natural for us to want to be with the One we love. We need to feel loved and accepted. We have a need to be fed and satisfied. We want to be a part of the celebration-of-life. We want to be with family. That’s why we enjoy coming to God’s house to worship!

WE COME OUT OF HABIT! We do a lot of things out of habit. We’ve formed a pattern for doing certain things in a certain way. Habits are reinforced by practice. A football player practices daily, so that in the game he won’t have to stop and thing about what to do – he’ll do it automatically.

A musician will practices for endless hours, so that when called upon to perform, she won’t make any mistakes. So, a Christian practices worship Regularly, so that worship becomes an automatic response to God.

We also deliberately choose our habits! Some habits are bad for us; but we have chosen to practice them. Some habits are good for us; and we have chosen to practice them. So, when a person says "I’ve gotten out of the habit of going to worship," they’re really saying "I’ve deliberately chosen not to worship God, or to be a part of His family gathering."

WE COME BECAUSE IT’S EXPECTED OF US! We do a lot of things because it’s expected of us! We go to work. We go to school. We go to Church. Sometimes, we come to worship God because God expects us to come, requires us to come.

IF YOU LIKED GOING TO GRANDMA’S HOUSE, YOU’LL LOVE COMING TO GOD’S HOUSE TO WORSHIP!