Bound to what we can. . .

I overheard a couple of people talking about their churches and one, obviously Roman Catholic, said that his priest had heard his confession and then the person became ill and could not fulfill the holy obligation of the Mass.  The priest told the penitent, "People are not bound to do what they can’t do, only to what they can.  But there is no cover in confession for those who do not want to do what they ought."  Now there are some words to chew on.

Although we might disagree a bit over the way the obligation of the Mass is treated, Lutherans should take notice.  God does not bind us to what we cannot do.  When illness or unavoidable work steal us away from God's House, there is nothing we are able to do about that.  But the vast majority of people are absent from the Lord's House not by impossibility to attend but by a lack of desire.  There the duty remains and our failure to be glad to enter the Lord's House is itself a sign of sin and a wrong that deserves confession.

Confessing we do not want to go to the Divine Service may be true enough in fact but it is a signal that a serious problem has breached our hearts and this must be dealt with sooner rather than later.  Frankly, the majority of our people are not in the pews of the Lord's House on the Lord's Day around the Word and Table of the Lord -- not because they are not available but simply because they don't want to.  They feel no urgency either from sin and its guilt to receive God's absolution nor do they feel any real want or desire for the holiness of God's House and His unmerited gifts of grace delivered to us there.  That is a problem.

Frankly, I cannot tell how many times I have heard the yearning in a deployed soldier's words to be again in the presence of the Lord, hearing the faithful proclamation of His Word and receiving His body and blood -- but the urgencies of war have prevented it.  I cannot count the number of times a shut-in or nursing home resident has lamented the loss of not being able to be in Church on Sunday morning, among the fellowship of God's people around His Word and altar.  Those who cannot yearn to be present and those who are able simply choose not to be present.  Think about that.

This is surely not new.  Hebrews 10 reminds us that early on in the life of the Church there were those who neglected the assembly then -- just as there are now.  And the writer to the Hebrews urges the hearer of God's Word to encourage those missing so that miss what happens around the Word and Table of the Lord.  Judging by attendance figures, nearly every Church body in America and every congregation has less than half of its people there on any given Sunday.  Some find that number even worse -- perhaps 70-80% of those missing who should be there.  Think what your congregation or our church body would look like if 80% were there and only 20% we missing -- or everyone who could attend did attend!