It is easy to think of our spiritual journey as personal and private, and in many ways it is. Each of us individually has a personal spiritual journey that we are on, working on repentance, shunning evils as sins, learning to love others more than ourselves, and learning to serve others and serve the Lord. But we are not meant to journey alone. The Lord made us specifically to live in worshipful communities.
"A person was not born for their own sake, but for the sake of others; that is, so that they should not live for themselves alone, but for others." (True Christianity 406)
What is a worshipful community? It is a group of people who gather to live in worship to the Lord. Worship doesn't just mean prayer, reading the Word, and singing, though it can involve these things. True worship is about how we live. Our lives can be a struggle, especially our spiritual lives. As we try to live according to the Lord's Word and become the angels that he wishes us to become it can be immeasurably helpful to have others around us who share similar values and goals. They can be there to remind us of the Lord's love, His truth, His Word. They can be there to love us, strengthen us, remind us of our heavenly aspirations, and the Lord’s infinite patience and mercy.
"In short, acting in accord with the Lord's commandments constitutes true worship of Him, indeed constitutes true love and true faith." (Secrets of Heaven 10143.5)
Think about why it might be useful to go to church. Yes, it gives us an opportunity to praise the Lord as a community, or learn from His Word, but it is so much more. We don't know when the day may come when we head to church after an especially hard week. On those Sundays our worshipful community is there to support us and strengthen us for the week ahead. We won't need this every week, but sometimes it will be invaluable. And more than that, we don’t know when the day might come when we are the ones who are needed, when we are called to be like one of the Lord’s angels, strengthening, comforting, and loving our neighbor.
"By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)