Church on the Web...

A friend at work was telling me how he has gotten into attending church on the web. It seems he is a part of Saddleback Community Church (of Rick Warren fame) and they have a live web-link to their Sunday services. He says that he's a part of a small group, works with the High School group, etc., and is getting to the point where he either doesn't feel like going to the actual church service, or is just too tired to go. What's up with that? Now I can understand shut-ins watching a web-link vs. physically attending. Shut-ins, by the way, are typically those people who either through sickness or immobility are unable to physically attend a church service. I can also understand a one-off where someone, who is sick with the flu, stays at home to watch the service. But simply staying at home because you happen to be too tired or uninspired to attend is just plain lazy. It goes beyond laziness though. Worship, as modeled in the Bible, is a corporate activity. True, it certainly includes personal times, but the actions of the apostles as well as the events outlined in the Epistles portray a community of believers worshipping together. It should not be surprising that this corporate activity helps strengthen and build the individuals within the community of believers unlike any individual act of worship could. As a corollary to the main point, if anyone feels they are too burned-out to attend the Sunday worship service then perhaps they are spending too much time at church. What? Too much time? Yes, too much time in too many activities. Our culture sends signals that we must constantly be on the move if we are to be effective. While there is certainly some truth to that, the flip side is where someone is so involved that they are of little effective good. Better to concentrate your talents in a few endeavors... and really make an impact; than to stretch yourself thin, only to find your impact meaningless.