It’s a pretty popular Christian blog topic these days to discuss the importance of attending church physically for the sake of communion with believers and collective worship.
In the era of all-things-streaming, we all know how easy it is to slip into the comfort of watching church online from our computer screens or TVs. I mean why get all dressed up and force yourself through that awkward meet-and-greet session with other humans, when a bed-head appropriate service in your PJs is just the click of a button away?
The Sunday struggle is REAL—for me at least.
But what do you do when it’s physically hard to attend or be active in your church? Is that a legitimate excuse, or does God expect you to ‘suck it up’ and participate in the sufferings of Christ by making it to your spot in pew three?
As always, Billy Graham had a response chock-full of wisdom when a concerned man wrote him a letter regarding this very topic.
As Kathie Lee Gifford elaborated on yesterday in her tribute to the late evangelist, Graham was a man who took redemption as seriously as he did sin and grace as seriously as he took justice; and thus, he was never one to lead through blaming or guilt-shaming—and certainly not a legalist who thought missing a Sunday service would land you in the lake of fire.
This preaching style bled through in Graham’s response to a man named R.L. who asked, “Is it wrong from me to just watch our church’s service on TV?”