Redeeming Summer Like a Christian
The angels and archangels engage in heavenly worship day and night, and we are invited to join in this duty of worship each time we are gathered together on the Lord’s Day.
I have done more writing than the average person. Whenever I receive a summary of my Grammarly report, I sound like some prolific Rushdoonian. They keep telling me I write more than 99% of the Grammarly community. I believe these writers are seasonal birds like the snowbirds in Florida.
That said, I talk about a lot of topics. I try to play the role of a happy generalist. And when you write as much, you often get embroiled in sundry controversies and your share of winsome emails. The latest one came from a British lady who called me an “outstanding prick.” That really hurts because I was expecting something more mundane.
This entire endeavor led me to think about what topic provokes the most frustration within the Christian community. Then I had the epiphany that we are well into summertide, and every summer, I republish in edited fashion my article on why I think it’s stupid to miss church on vacation. This leads to the usual amount of vitriol, as I note in the article. Depending on the range of things, I am a legalist who would make D.L. Moody look like Al Sharpton. Well, for old-time’s sake, here’s a republishing of that oldie-goodie.
The Liturgy of Summer Vacation
As summer heats upon us, many will be vacationing nationwide. As a pastor, I have noticed that church members generally don’t think much about the role the summer season has on us as Christians. I am particularly troubled by Christians who treat vacation as not only a break from work but also a break from Church. To some, if vacation happens to involve a Sunday, then so be it. It becomes the ideal day to travel to your favorite summer destination. After all, you are not missing work; you are only missing Church.
Hebrews does not treat this subject lightly. The author forbids the non-assembling of ourselves. He treats forsaking the assembly as a kind of mini-schism. Hebrews calls us not to forsake the gathering, which is simply a re-affirmation of the motif explored all throughout the Old Testament Scriptures.
The angels and archangels engage in heavenly worship day and night, and we are invited to join in this duty of worship each time we are gathered together on the Lord’s Day. After all, when Jesus ascended into heaven, we ascended with him. We imitate the festivals of heaven in communion with angels and archangels.
Vacation is no substitute for worship. Missing the Lord’s Day gathering on vacation for any trivial reason is to mock the tearing of the veil, which gave us access to the heavenly throne of grace. It belittles the work of Christ, who conquered our divisions and united us to Himself. Further, it belittles the martyrs who died for the right to adore the Triune God.
Redeeming Summer
With that in view, here are a few things I recommend for those going on vacation this summer:
First, avoid falling into the trap that a few good Christians gathered at a camp or a resort constitute the Church on Sunday. Oh, don’t forget on a baseball field. I want to cover all bases!
You may enjoy Christian fellowship and be challenged by an exhortation, but this does not constitute heavenly worship. It may be simply a Bible study, but worship is not a Bible study; it is the very entrance of God’s people into the heavenly places through the work of the Spirit in an orderly service led by duly ordained men. This may be why so many have no problem enjoying their individualized festivities because they enjoy picking up sticks on the sabbath to form their own altars. That did not turn out well.
Second, before going on vacation, google churches near the area. If you are not able to find a church that resembles yours, look to explore a bit outside your tradition. Learn to love the universal church. Find an evangelical congregation that loves the Bible. You will be surprised how many topics stem from these experiences. It’s a beautiful discipleship program.
Third, avoid making Sunday morning plans. Let your family–especially those who are not Christians traveling with you–know that Sunday worship is non-negotiable. If they are nominal Christians or unbelievers, let them know beforehand that their Sunday morning plans will not include your family. Use such opportunities to establish a firm foundation with your loved ones, which will necessarily be easier in the years to come. And if this is the first year you have submitted to that conclusion--if asked--briefly explain why you have changed your position. There is nothing wrong with changing your perspective, but there is plenty wrong in not acting on it.
There is no need to theologize about these issues with other family members or feel you have to offer a treatise on the matter (since it may lead to unnecessary arguing). If they insist, tell them this is a commitment you made as a family long ago.
Finally, when visiting other churches, teach your children (and yourself) to avoid criticizing the Church’s practices that differ from your own. Use this time to explain to the little ones the beauty of the universal church. Explain that there are legitimate differences among churches (frequency of communion, styles of music, etc.) but that the Spirit dwells among them all.
The Lord’s Day is a day of rest. It is the feast God has prepared for you. Under normal circumstances, there is no other place for you to be because, ordinarily, there is no salvation outside the church.
Notations
According to Anthony Esolen, C.S. Lewis imagines little children together as the prime example of true religion. The child, Lewis notes, does not abide in theological categories, they just want to be with Jesus.
Surrounded by muscular dudes in the early hours of the gym listening to chapter 18 of Jayber Crow and hearing the combination of flowers and beauty, and then listening to the description of the death of little Lidy described so momentously dazzling was probably not the best place to shed tears. But I can’t be blamed. I didn’t know it was coming.
I suppose this is a good time to share that I am no longer the host of Kuyperian Commentary podcast. I have given that responsibility to the bright Rev. Rick Davis from Lynchburg, Virginia. After 103 episodes, I decided to retire and focus on other projects. You can listen to all 103 episodes here. I have more information later, but please subscribe to the new youtube page for now. The 104th episode should be available later today, where Rick and I discuss KC's history and Christian Nationalism and other sundry topics.
I have reached almost 90 pages in my Armor of God book and have dedicated the first two chapters to describing the devil and all his works. My premise is that if we take the devil lightly, our armor will be light.
My old acquaintance, Michael Sacasas, from RTS days in Orlando, is a genuine tech guru. His insights are phenomenal, and I have learned to appreciate them even when I am not intelligent enough to follow his arguments. In his latest substack, he notes that technology has damaged our ability to look into people’s eyes. In reflecting on this, he quotes a section from Ivan Illich’s interview where Ivan masterfully and poetically summarizes his case:
“It is from your eye that I find myself,” Illich argues. “It is you making me the gift of that which Ivan is for you … I cannot come to be fully human unless I have received myself as a gift and accepted myself as a gift of somebody who has, well today we say distorted me the way you distorted me by loving me.”
Sacasas concludes that “the gaze of another is a gift, but it is admittedly a demanding gift that entails a measure of vulnerability.”
Remember to pray for the funeral of one of my parishioners this week. This man lived and died well, which for the preacher is a gift of grace.
In my introduction to Covenant Theology, I begin with the Trinity. Without a Trinitarian covenantalism, covenant theology loses its grandeur.
Prompte et sincere,
Uriésou Brito