What About Worship on Vacation?

For the past two weeks, my wife and children have been on fall break. During this time we typically take some type of vacation out of town. If you are like us, a part of your plan includes trying to figure out where you are going to worship on Sunday and what you will do for some type of mid-week Bible study. This set of circumstances begs the question, “What are the correct attitudes and practices concerning worship for Christians when they are temporarily away from home?”

First of all, we need to educate ourselves on what God’s word reveals about our duties for worship. It should not take much study for us to figure out that Sunday is the Lord’s Day, and that our highest achievement or experience every week is to gather with the saints on the first day of the week, worship the God of heaven, and remember the sacrifice of Christ. So that being said let’s remind ourselves that God is also in Florida or wherever else we might be at any time and for any occasion. Faithful Christians will make arrangements to worship the Lord every Sunday.

Secondly, we need to realize that the occasion that calls us away might dictate the choices we have for worship on Sunday or for some form of mid-week assembly. There are no set times for worship, only Sunday as an absolute. Midweek services are required of us insomuch as the eldership and congregation in which we are locally organized has made plans to come together (but shouldn’t we desire them?). My understanding of Hebrews 10:24-25 has always been that Christians should make every effort possible to assemble with the local church of which they are a part on every occasion that church has decided to meet together. Forsaking is a conscious choice to not attend our local assembly when one has the ability to be there but has simply chosen to do something else.

So let me just quickly share with you how this past week worked out for me. On Sunday morning, I was in Chicago running the Chicago marathon. I knew I was not going to be making an early assembly, so I planned and located a congregation of the Lord’s people who met at 4 p.m. I took an Uber for about a one hour drive to that location. I was met with open arms and enjoyed a wonderful worship experience with brethren I had never met before. It was a true blessing! I had a flight back home that evening and so another Uber ride of about an hour took me to the Chicago airport and I flew home.

After a full day of work on Monday, I traveled with my family to Orlando, Florida. We spent the next three days there, and we had a one hour Bible study and devotional on Thursday evening as a family in the hotel where we were staying. This included singing and prayer. On this particular occasion, we did not locate a church for a mid-week study (we have typically done so in the past). We instead decided to create our own study and it was very special for our family. In the past while in Orlando, I have preached on Sunday morning inside a hotel room to people from 7 different states who had desired to find a place of worship. I have also attended and preached on Sunday evening after that Sunday morning hotel conference room worship service with the church that had organized that event the same morning.

I believe there is a point to all of this that hopefully satisfies the mind and heart of God. (I would remind the reader here that He is the only one we are trying to please anyway). God is always first place. To plan and make the effort to remember Him and worship Him is the key. It is important for us not to get too bogged down on times and places for worship that we have traditionally become so accustomed to that it makes us think we are sinning if we don’t do it exactly that way. The main thing this past week for me personally as well as for my family was that God was not going to be forgotten while we were out of town. It is impossible to forsake the assembly if there is no assembly. At the same time, no Sunday should go by in which we cease to worship our Creator and remember what Jesus did for us on the cross and partake of the supper which He commanded for us.

I am thankful for all of the faithful members of my spiritual family who always make plans to remember the Lord even when they are away from home. I am thankful for a physical family who loves the Lord and doesn’t want to ever miss the first day of the week assembly or an opportunity for midweek Bible study. Being a Christian and worshiping the Lord are still the two greatest privileges this side of heaven.

“And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding.” – Hebrews 6:3

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AUTHOR: Jeremiah Tatum