By Pastor Rhoda Klein Miller

How do you wake up Saturday mornings? In eager anticipation of the inspiration and beauty the day holds or in a begrudging response to alarm bells or pleading voices? Does your mind flood with excuses of why you can’t get up and go or are you driven by certainty and experience awaits well worth the effort to crawl out from the covers?

Even if we love our church, fellowship with friends and welcoming new ones, sometimes the weariness of the week makes us feel like we have to move a body twice our size. The resulting rush after a sluggish start leaves our breath two blocks behind our bodies’ arrival. That’s ok. Better late than never.

I hope you are motivated to attend weekly worship gatherings, whether in-person or online for the right reasons. It is vital to understand why we gather. Hint: it is not to please some ego-centric deity. God established the Sabbath for us. In His generosity and wisdom He knew we’d need an invitation and a plan to come together. Family reunions don’t just organically happen. They require coordination and commitment to a scheduled time and place.

When we face the corruption and crumbling of this world we long for reassurance an alternative exists. We need to experience heaven’s eternal reality, where “the rescued by the Lord return and enter Zion singing with unending joy, filled with gladness as sorrow disappears.” — Isaiah 51:11

Staging this scene cannot be done individually in isolation. It requires a collective effort. When we gather to worship as a community we get and give a taste of what it will be like when people united by the bonds of love contribute to the harmony of heaven. Look around, see and hear your neighbours who share the same victory over sin and injustice. In singing God’s praise we demonstrate our common ground is greater than what divides us. Place yourself in that picture today and you’ll be strengthened to face a world dominated by conflict tomorrow.

We have such a great privilege to attend and participate in the celebration of our Creator and Saviour. An opportunity many believers around the world do not have. May Sabbath be your favorite day to get out of bed.