I’m missing Wednesday night church tonight due to working late. And I truly am missing it, though I plan to make it to choir rehearsal. But I thought I’d take this time to reflect on why we should attend Wednesday night, or midweek services anyway.
We’re all busy. Everyone is busy. There are kid activities, it seems, every night of the week. That plus homework, dinner and for some of us, more work at our regular jobs in the evenings, and sometimes things get pushed aside. Or dropped. One of those things may be Wednesday night worship service. We’re tired, we want a night off. All of that is very understandable, but I think there are things to really take into consideration when trying to decide whether or not to make a Midweek service part of your weekly routine or not.
Some may argue that attending worship on Sunday morning is enough. But I’d like to throw out two arguments as to why it is not enough:
- Midweek service is a different animal than a Sunday worship service. This, of course, varies depending on which church you attend. But generally it has been my experience that a Wednesday night service is smaller, more intimate and therefore more personal. It’s a chance to meet people and visit (or “fellowship”) with them. On Sunday, with a larger crowd, you may find yourself slipping in and out of service without making much contact with other people, particularly if you are not a part of a regular Sunday school class (which I would also highly recommend). But Wednesday night usually brings the church together in a more casual setting, conducive to edifying conversation and even prayer.
- We may tell ourselves that attending Sunday morning is “enough”, but I wonder what our soul is missing out on when we neglect to get together during the week. Try to follow me here: When I neglect to start my day with prayer and study, then I oftentimes am goofed up before I even reach midday. I think the same goes for church and meeting together. We get together on Sunday, but it is a long time between Sundays. The world gets in the way. Work and fear and stress crowd our days. How much good it must do our souls, to take a break from all of that and come together with our church family–because we are family–halfway through the week for refreshing?
24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
How can we consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, if we are not around one another in order to do so? Also each Sunday and Wednesday gathering gives us the opportunity to invite our friends and family who need Jesus to join with us in learning about Him.
And we should always seek out ways to meet with one another, encouraging one another—and even more, because we are just sojourners here and will spend all of eternity together, we who believe and who are in Christ Jesus.