It was wonderful to see our church filled almost to the brim last week on Easter Sunday! Now, will you keep it going? If it was worth coming last Sunday, won’t it be worth attending this Sunday too?
Easter is the high point of the story the Scriptures tell that reveal what God is up to in the world and what he has done for us. He has redeemed us from slavery to sin in the past and given us the sure hope of resurrection in the future. This story is not like other stories that entertain us on a daily basis. This story is meant to transform us.
Some things—the most transformative things—demand our whole-bodied presence. When something captivates our imagination, we want a better view, a closer look, a more intimate experience. We don’t simply want to watch it, we want to witness it for ourselves. This is why we pay to attend sporting events that we could watch for free at home or concerts we could watch for free online. It’s why when you can’t go to the game you go to the sports bar or have friends over to experience the game together. It’s difficult to immersively experience and participate digitally.
This Easter story is not merely intellectual; it’s not meant merely to be watched or heard. It is also lived; and living this counter-cultural story in a world that finds it so strange is very difficult. Living as a Christian is harder than working out three times a week and skipping the carbs. It’s the rare person who has the commitment and fortitude to do that alone. We need partners, and the partners are found at King of Grace.
The story and the partners are what makes it worth attending regular Sunday worship. See you next week!
An excerpt from Analog Church: Why We Need Real People, Places, and Things in the Digital Age, by Jay Kim (Westmont, IL: IVP, 2020).
CrossFit is a worldwide physical-fitness phenomenon. Since 2005, CrossFit has grown from just thirteen gyms to more than thirteen thousand gyms globally and four million active participants today. I have many friends who are avid CrossFit devotees and all of them claim that the most beneficial part of being involved has to do with the community they experience. One of these friends, Justin, is the general manager of the CrossFit Games and helped negotiate the deal to have the Games broadcast on national television. He says that “the sense of community is what sets CrossFit apart. A gym where there are no TVs or mirrors. People leave their cell phones in the car and there are no headphones allowed. Eye contact, conversation, and encouragement are the norm. The friendships formed when you are exhausted are some of the strongest. And those relationships extend beyond the walls of the gym. Try as you like, you can’t replicate that online.”
Justin is exactly right. That sort of community can’t be replicated online. I’ve tried. Over the years, I’ve intermittently gotten into a few different online workout videos. I turn on YouTube and follow along as the instructor guides me through the routines. It’s helpful for a while but something about the experience lacks the motivating factor necessary to stay with it. There’s no accountability, and simply put, it’s lonely. This is why going to a gym, working out alongside others, and receiving encouragement and challenge will always outpace even the very best online programs we may find. This is also why the most physically fit people you know typically have some sort of workout community around them, be it CrossFit, another gym, a running group, a rec-league team, or something else. Gathering matters. Being shoulder to shoulder and blocking out time in our busy schedules to focus on a particular goal—alongside others who share the same goal—keeps us motivated, encouraged, challenged, and leads to transformation. None of this can be replicated online.
A church should be online, but it shouldn’t be an online church.