I ran into an absent parishioner at Starbucks. After exchanging pleasantries I asked, "Where have you been?" The response was quick and cavalier: "What's the purpose of Church? I don't need to go to Church, I pray at home and I love Jesus with all my heart. Anyway, I can watch the liturgy on the internet. I'm okay, Father, I'm good with God."  As this parishioner departed, I began to think about the purpose of the Church in our lives.

Our parish has a mission statement, and I have read other well-written mission statements at parishes I visit, but what does the Archdiocese tell us is the purpose of the Church? I decided to research the Uniform Parish Regulations of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.

In Article 15, Section 2, I found: "The aims and purposes of the Parish are to keep, practice and proclaim the Orthodox Christian Faith pure and undefiled."  Later in Section 3 the Regulations say: "The Parish shall express the life of the Church in the local community according to the Orthodox Christian Faith and Tradition, sanctifying the faithful through the Divine Liturgy and the Holy Sacraments."

AHA! I couldn't wait to call the parishioner I reconnected with at Starbucks to vindicate myself and explain that, indeed, one must attend Church! As I picked up the phone to call, eager to justify my view, I had an arresting thought: As a representative of the Church, maybe I'm not properly sanctifying the faithful. I put down the phone. I realized I had my own work to do.

Parish life has its mission, as mentioned above, "to keep, practice and proclaim the Orthodox Christian Faith pure and undefiled."  Worshipping together on Sunday morning provides a place for the faithful to witness and participate in the Divine Liturgy and be united through Christ.

In Wounded by Love, Elder Porphyrios explains, "Everything is in Christ and with Christ. This is the mystery of the Church. Christ is revealed in that unity between His love and ourselves: The Church. On my own I am not the Church, but together with you, all together we are the Church. There is nothing more magnificent- to unite ourselves with our fellow men, with the joys and sorrows of each and every one, to feel that they are our own, to pray for everyone, to have care for their salvation, to forget about ourselves, to do everything for them just as Christ did for us."

Participating in the life of the Church, the Eucharist, the weekly gathering, the Divine Liturgy, then, is not just a personal matter. It becomes our obligation to one another. The Priest cannot celebrate Liturgy by himself; at least one other must be in attendance, because Holy Communion is the development of community. Consider this as we reflect upon the great Christian symbol, the Cross.

The two beams that create The Cross can represent the two key relationships of humankind; our relationship with God, and our relationships with each other. The vertical beam of The Cross symbolizes our personal relationship with God. This is the relationship we nurture with private prayer and daily reading of the Holy Scripture; this is what my Starbucks friend called being good with God.

This pillar of the cross is truly important because it is representative of our awesome connection to God and our grounding in Christian faith. We must be focused, centered, and committed to the maintenance and preservation of this support, because the stability of The Cross as a whole depends on the strength of this column; it represents the great commandment of Christ, "To love God with all our mind, our heart, and our soul."

The horizontal beam represents the relationships we have in communion with one another and the Church. Sure, we can live our life outside the community of the church, pray at home and watch the Divine Liturgy on the internet, but we are ignoring the relationship Christ calls us to have with one another. Without the connection and embrace we share in unity with other Christians, we don't have the crossbeam; we're missing a part of the cross. Active involvement in the church and partaking of the Sacraments fulfills the other great commandment of Christ, "to love our neighbor as ourselves."

Ultimately, our life as Orthodox Christians is fully realized when we "commit ourselves to one another and our whole life to Christ our God."  This commitment is expressed through our participation in the life of the Church. Our Lord does not need us to be in church; we need to be in church to realize the fullness of our Faith. Rather than seeing church attendance as an obligation or our Christian duty, let's try to look at it from a different angle. Church helps us to plug in, refresh, and further connect with our Lord and each other.

It is time to leave excuses behind and allow ourselves to realize the importance of our church attendance each week. We all depend on one another, and as fallible human beings, we need the Sacraments and the time to worship free of distractions while fostering our relationship with God that church provides.

So come to church and open your heart. You may be surprised at the joy and enrichment you receive in return for simply showing up. Looking forward to seeing you!