How to Behave in Church
Paul left Timothy in Ephesus to teach the church how to behave as a household of God (1 Tim. 3:15) and thereby exemplify God’s way of ordering His household (1 Tim. 1:4). We will explore those passages later. Today, I recall memories of behavior in church as I have travelled through this land singing with God’s churches as I go (Eph. 5:19).
Do you remember the first time you attended church? I do. It was a Church of Christ in Jefferson City, MO 80 years ago. My family moved from MI during the last years of the Great Depression. I was born on the way at the home of grandfather Yoakum in Springfield, Ill. We travelled on to Springfield, MO area where dad received treatment at a veterans’ hospital for a mustard gas accident in WW1 training. After dad’s treatment we moved to a small very rural farm near Fulton, MO. Church going consisted of Bible reading, prayer, and singing at home.
With WW2 beginning gas was rationed, travel was limited. However, on a sunny spring Sunday we travelled 35 miles to Jefferson City, my bother Bob and I in the rumble seat of a Model A, to attend church in a real building. I remember the singing, even some songs we sang at home. It was exciting! As mom often told the story, when singing, We’re Marching to Zion we came to the second line, “Let those refuse to sing who never knew our God.” Standing in the pew beside mom, I blurted out, “Why is that lady not singing?” Now, that’s no way to behave in church. I was scolded severely.
After the war, we moved back to MI to a little church in Adrian that mom’s older brother Leonard Rucker had started. Uncle Leonard was a factory worker who had help start six congregations, composed mostly of factory workers. The Ruckers were a singing family. Any family or church meeting turned into a song fest. I remember my cousin Jackie singing the lead in Out of the Ivory Palaces. And an area singing when Uncle Leonard kept on and on requesting songs, Jackie asked him to sing Lead Me Gently Home Father. Uncle Leonard took the hint and soon we travelled the 35 miles back home. Jackie did go home to her Father when she died last fall. As recalled in an earlier lesson, I remember going to church in Columbus, OH and singing There Is a God and Oh I Want to See Him. And coming here we do a good job singing The Love of God. Those are some of my memories of going to church. They are good ones.
Tom Y