Worshipping God in the UK
In general, the UK is an extremely tolerant place. As a result, in general, people are free to practice whatever (or no) religion they wish. Many native English people claim a Christian heritage, given that the Church of England is the “national church,” and the queen is the head of the Church of England.
We’re blessed to be able to worship God freely here
We feel blessed and are extremely grateful that we can publicly worship God in the UK. Yet, in its bid to remain tolerant, and popular, many mainstream churches, and UK society in general, has become extremely permissive. No one’s lifestyle is wrong. What is preached from “Christian” pulpits, is that Jesus loves us, so we can be and believe whatever we want. Blatant sin is often condoned as an acceptable lifestyle.
I completely agree that Jesus loves us and that Jesus saves thieves, murderers and everything in between. I know that God loves me, but I also know that he’s not proud of me. I usually fail to do what he would have me do. I fall into more temptations than I even know I’ve fallen into. Yet, despite all my failings, He does still love me. Why? Because I am his baptised and redeemed child, sorry for the sins that I commit. He sees me, not with all the stains of my sins, but through the goggles that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross gave him. I’m grateful that God has those goggles and sees me through them.
Everyone who believes that Jesus did this, for them, gets the same gift, and can be assured of the same love, and eternal life with God.
We believe we’re forgiven, but that doesn’t give us permission to sin
The assurance of forgiveness doesn’t give me carte blanche to have whatever lifestyle I want. There are some lifestyle choices that God says in the Bible are wrong and are not pleasing to him. In the book of Mark chapter 7, Jesus talks about things that are clean and things that are unclean. In verse 6, Jesus quotes Isaiah 29:13:
These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.
Mark 7:6 / Isaiah 29:13
Jesus goes on to explain from verse 15:
Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.’…For it doesn’t go into his heart, but into his stomach, and then out of his body.
Mark 7:15 & 19
And then in Mark 7, verse 20:
What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’
Mark 7:20
How convicting that list of ‘unclean’ things is! I am not proud to admit that I’ve committed more than one of them. I’m guilty. But THANK GOD that I am forgiven.
And, as a result of that wonderful forgiveness, my attitude is not one of permission, (saying it’s okay to do those things because God has forgiven me), rather my attitude is to seek forgiveness. I try not to do those things. But when I inevitably fail, I know that God forgives me, because of what Jesus did for me. So, believe it or not, I’m trying not to sin on a daily basis, and regularly asking for forgiveness for the wrongs I’ve done.
So what does that mean for my worship life in the UK?
So, knowing that I have the freedom of God’s love, how do I act? Do I just keep on doing things that I know he wouldn’t like? Or, do I try to do things that would make him proud to love me?
Do I hang around with people who do things God doesn’t like and condone their sinful lifestyle, or do I find like-minded people who struggle against sinful desires too?
I’m grateful that Jesus loves me, and so, to honour that love, I try to do things that would make Him proud of me, and I don’t condone lifestyles and attitudes that I know are wrong, according to the Bible’s teachings.
Of course, I fail, just like those around me fail. But that doesn’t stop me from continuing to try and it doesn’t stop me from continuing to love and fellowship with others who are trying to live God-pleasing lives.
Which brings me back to worshipping God in the UK. I’m very blessed that we have a small church community of like-minded people who confess their sins and believe as I do. I’m grateful for their physical presence here in the UK.
I’m blessed that while Covid was keeping us physically apart, we were still able to connect on social media, and have regular Zoom meetings to maintain our relationships. I’m blessed that now that we’re able to physically meet again for worship and communion, that everyone has come back. Some of our members travel more than two hours, one-way, to be a part of our monthly worship services, and I’m so grateful that they are so committed to the Lord that they’re willing to do so; I’d like to think that I’d be willing to do the same.
Worshipping God, has caused me challenges here in the UK
Over the 20+ years that I’ve lived here in the UK, we’ve attended a few other churches in the area to see if we could become committed members of those organisations. Unfortunately, with each one, there was an aspect of their teaching that troubled us to the point of not wanting to continue to actively participate with them. It has disappointed us to have to part ways because the people have been worth knowing and worth loving. And not having a church connection in our local community has made our connection to our community tenuous, at best. It has been too easy to keep to ourselves, which is a shame. We miss the interactions outside of regular worship that builds up and allows us to actively share and practice our faith in our wider community.
Being able to freely worship God here in the UK is a tremendous blessing. And freely doing so with a small group of families on a monthly basis is also a tremendous blessing. But the lack of a local community of believers outside this monthly gathering is missing from our experience here in the UK. It’s one of the key things we miss about living in the Midwest US where more pockets of like-minded Christians reside and have built local community congregations in which we could actively participate, knowing that they confess and believe as we do.
We know that others who participate in our monthly worship have been able to find local church bodies that they are comfortable participating in here in the UK. We are so glad and praise God on their behalf. But that is not a blessing God has afforded Phil and I.
What about you?
Do you feel the burden of sin in your life? Do you have the assurance of God’s forgiveness through Jesus? Do you recognise the challenges of finding like-minded Christians in your community? Feel free to reach out and share your thoughts in the form below.
