John Giarrizzo

Christ Prefers Public Worship Over Family Christmas

Christ Prefers Public Worship Over Family Christmas

Is it okay for a local church to cancel its worship service when Sunday falls on December 25? Do churches have to provide public worship services every Sunday of the year? What does the Word of God say to such questions?

The Book of Psalms sheds a lot of light on the importance of corporate worship. One text in particular that addresses God’s preference for public worship is found in Psalm 87:2, “the LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob” (ESV).

On Sundays, corporate worship at church always takes priority over family celebrations at home—even on Christmas! What we do in Sunday worship is far more important to the Lord Jesus Christ than what we do at home in family worship, for Christ always prefers public worship over private.

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COVID, Corporate Worship, and Communion

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COVID, Corporate Worship, and Communion

No one would deny that these are strange days in which we’re currently living. We’ve all been forced to adapt our daily lives to this new reality. Sadly, this even includes changing the way the church conducts its ministry. I have been encouraged by those members of our church who have been struggling over the loss of corporate worship. Some have reached out to inform me that they find the loss of Sunday worship downright agonizing. This is a reflection of grace in their hearts. Pity the person who can have public worship taken away without ever missing it. I would rather go to bed without dinner than go a Sunday without church!

Truly our hearts resonate with words of the psalmist in Psalm 84—

“How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD . . . Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah. For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.”