Sometimes you just need to be there

Loyalty isn't what it used to be. A generation ago organizations expected employees to make a commitment to the company in return for continuing employment and growth opportunities. No more. Both companies and employees are more straightforward about pursuing their respective interests-fewer guarantees for workers; mobile employees more eager to manage their own careers.

Similarly, a generation ago most pastors could count on a cadre of key congregational members to be in church for regular worship services 90 per cent of the time or more. No longer. These days, even the most committed churchgoers are apt to attend worship in their home congregation three quarters of the time or less. There are lots reasons for this, many of them unavoidable consequences of contemporary life.

Churches obviously must adjust to the fact that the core is shrinking and a lower percentage of regular attendees will be there on any given Sunday. But we should not accept the slippage too easily. While the social environment has made it impossible for many people to attend as faithfully as before, it's also made it easier for those generally inclined to be there to avoid weekly worship for lesser reasons. Truth be told, sometimes it's a pain to go to church and we just would prefer to stay home or do other things. This we should resist.

Root of the problem

At the root of this problem lurk the pragmatic and individualist spirits of the age. We want to know what the personal payoff will be before we will commit to anything. This applies to church as well. If we don't think we'll get something out of it-or if we don't think we have something particular to contribute-then we are apt to succumb to any impulse, no matter how trivial, to simply stay at home or give priority to other pursuits.

Yes, church exists to serve its members. It addresses our need for worship, provides a place for the restoration of souls and a venue for reconciling activities of many sorts. It is indeed a place to give and receive. But sometimes these things happen in ways we don't realize. Just because we have no particular task to perform on a given Sunday is no reason to excuse ourselves from being there. Just because we think we are incapable of receiving on any given Sunday is no reason to be absent either. The fact is, our very presence is a often a witness that can bolster the confidence of others and speak soundless words of encouragement or comfort.

Sometimes we need to just be there. Without suggesting that perfect church attendance is the measure of authentic discipleship, we need to acknowledge that casual attendance patterns do represent a problem. Strong spiritual community is nurtured by faithful attention to regular worship and diminished when participants give it short shrift. When we take a cavalier approach to the value of simply attending, we flirt with acedia (the sin of spiritual slothfulness).

What we need to avoid is the sense that our presence doesn't matter. It does, even if we feel we have nothing to give, and even when we feel we're getting nothing in return. Not all of church is about us, least of all about our feelings. Sometimes we just need to be there, and perhaps not know why. Our presence at church may well be for someone other than ourselves. Why do people attend funerals? Practically speaking, it isn't for the dead person. More often it is simply out of respect. We go because our presence is important to someone, even if we have nothing to say and are relatively untouched personally by the loss.

Presence is important; park it in places that truly matter.