“I don’t need to go to church to worship God. I can worship him just as well — maybe even better — by myself out in nature: in the mountains, at the beach, anywhere at all. It’s not about religion; it’s about relationship.”

You’ve heard this, or something like it, haven’t you? It has a ring of truth to it because most of us have had very deep emotional experiences in such places, and, for some of us, those experiences have lifted our hearts to God in praise and worship. St. Ignatius might call those experiences moments of consolation, gifts of God that should be accepted gratefully. But it is a mistake to generalize those experiences, to make them in any sense normative and so to diminish the importance of formal, communal worship in a space consecrated to God for just such a purpose.

I was reminded of this during Morning Prayer through the Old Testament lesson appointed for 11 May, Deuteronomy 12. Here is a portion of the lesson:

Deuteronomy 12:1–14 (ESV): The Lord’s Chosen Place of Worship

12 “These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth. 2 You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. 3 You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and destroy their name out of that place. 4 You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. 5 But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go, 6 and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. 7 And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

8 “You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes, 9 for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that the Lord your God is giving you. 10 But when you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety, 11 then to the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to the Lord. 12 And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male servants and your female servants, and the Levite that is within your towns, since he has no portion or inheritance with you. 13 Take care that you do not offer your burnt offerings at any place that you see, 14 but at the place that the Lord will choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I am commanding you.

As Israel prepares to enter and possess the land that God has promised them, God warns them that they are not to worship him in the same way the indigenous tribes worship their gods: on the mountains and hills, and under every green tree — anywhere and everywhere they please. Instead, God himself will choose the place — the one place — where his people are to worship him through burnt offerings and sacrifices, through tithes and contributions, through vow and freewill offerings, and through feasting before the LORD. God specifies when, where, and how he is to be worshipped by his people, lest everyone goes astray and does what is right in his own eyes. By God’s command, you must go to the tabernacle at the appointed times with the appointed sacrifices and/or offerings to worship him in the way he has commanded. Pitting religion against relationship is a modern heresy, as is elevating the individual — and individual preference — above the community.

Well, that’s the Old Testament. Surely, everything changed when Jesus came? No.

Acts 2:42–47 (ESV): The Fellowship of the Believers

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Just as Israel’s worship had a place and pattern commanded by God, so, too, with Christian worship. The pattern is fourfold: the apostles’ teaching (the Word), the fellowship (life together), the breaking of bread (the Eucharist/Communion), and the prayers (liturgy). These first Christians met in the Temple; they were, after all, Jews and the Temple was the appointed place for Jewish worship. And, before dedicated church buildings were constructed, they met in homes for the observance of the uniquely Christian aspects of worship. But, the point is, they came together for worship in a dedicated place using the form that God had given them through the apostles. As the writer of Hebrews exhorts:

Hebrews 10:23–25 (ESV): 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 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.

“I don’t need to go to church to worship God. I can worship him just as well — maybe even better — by myself out in nature: in the mountains, at the beach, anywhere at all. It’s not about religion; it’s about relationship.”

That is a hard sell in light of Scripture (Old and New Testaments) and the Great Tradition of the Church.

Now, please note that what I’ve said is not a critique of those who long to worship in church with God’s people, but who, through age, infirmity, or other exigent circumstances cannot. But it is an exhortation to those who could gather for worship but choose not to do. God specifies where and how he is to be worshipped; we, individually, do not.