The Rev. Joseph D. Rowland, rector of All Saints, Grenada, Mississippi recently wrote:
“When Christian people awake on Sunday morning they ought not to begin the day by debating the question of attendance at church, for if they have strength and health, they will feel it is a privilege and a duty to be there. It is hurtful to one’s moral and spiritual tone to live without a definite rule in this matter, and merely be governed by the temporary mood in which each Sunday happens to find one.
There are some things that among Christians ought not be left as open questions, and one of these is the privilege of the Lord’s people on the Lord’s day to worship God in His House. Let that duty be accepted as a standing engagement, quite as incumbent on you as your home duties and the labours of your business or profession. It is a prime duty of every person who has a religious belief to attend the services in His House of Prayer. Individual faithfulness is imperative for the Church’s strength and growth.”
From Glenda Wadsworth
as quoted in The Anglican Digest,
Pentecost 1995.