Words of Grace

By Rev. Mahlon Nevel

“We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing.” These are the opening words of a beloved hymn churches have been seen for several hundred years.

The church is the place where we gathered together to pray, to sing, to worship, and to give. And because it is the Christian church, we gather together in the name of the Lord Jesus.

“Upon the first day of the week,” according to the first epistle of Corinthians 16:2 the church gathers together.

That is in remembrance of Jesus rising from the dead on that day.

Because some have gotten out of the habit of going to church, Hebrews 10:25 tells us not to forsake the gathering of ourselves together. In fact, we are to exhort one another as that day approaches.

In Old Testament times, work was done in six days, and the seventh day was a day of rest. That was Saturday, the Sabbath. Years ago, Sunday was considered to be a day of rest. People tried not to work on that day.

The story is told about a pastor who visited a farmer. “Look at my grain,” the scoffing farmer said. “I plowed on Sunday. I planted on Sunday. I’ll harrowed on Sunday. I harvested on Sunday, and I never had a better crop. What do you say to that?”

“I only say,” the preacher answered, “that the Lord doesn’t settle all His accounts on the first of October.”