When the weather causes church service to be cancelled, what is your reaction? How does it make you feel? Are you excited that you now have another free day to do other things, or are you disappointed that something important is now missing? Maybe both. Either way, here are some thoughts you might consider.

Do not forsake meeting together!

Hebrews 10:25
not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Let me just say it, NO you are not going to hell if you miss Sunday morning church service. If going to church on Sunday morning is about putting in your time so God will be happy with you or so that others will see how great of a Christian you are, well then you have missed the purpose of Sunday morning gatherings.

 
Yes, God intends for His church to gather to worship and serve together on a regular basis. In fact, no one can be part of the body of Christ without being a part of the fellowship of believers. But the thought that “cancelling” church service due to bad weather and safety issues is somehow wrong or even sinful is simply ridiculous!

 
It is not so much about the act of attendance as it is about the hearts desire to attend. In fact, if our hearts are truly in tune with what we read in Hebrews 10:25, a feeling of disappointment would be evident in our hearts more than that of excitement of suddenly having one more free day in our life!

If gathering together is “cancelled”, is our worship “cancelled”?

Job 1:5
When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.
NOTICE! Just because church service is cancelled does not have to mean that our “worship” is cancelled. That’s right. Look at Job or example. We can see in Job 1:5 where Job took responsibility or making sure that he and his family were in good standing with the Lord.
The question that this verse hopefully brings to our hearts is one that is challenging and necessary. The question, am I and my family in right standing with God? We see that Job offered burnt offerings early in the morning and that it was his regular custom.

 
What is our regular custom? Do we escort our family before the Lord in prayer and worship early in the morning? Is our regular time of corporate worship on Sunday morning all there is? And, if it get’s cancelled, oh well.

Let’s face it, if we cannot worship with our family members or alone, are we really worshipping when we go to church on Sunday morning?

Mark 1:35
Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
Luke 5:16
But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.

We can see in these verses that Jesus often slipped away and prayed. I have to believe that this should be a hint to us that time with God in prayer and worship is vital. After all, if Jesus who was human and yet God had a need to worship the Father in prayer, who are we to think that we can get by without it?

The bottom line is this. If we are unable or choose not to participate in personal prayer and worship, we are certainly not going to be able to genuinely worship Him at a Sunday morning church service.

Furthermore, if we are unable to genuinely join our own household in worship and prayer in our homes, we are certainly not going to be able to genuinely worship Him at a Sunday morning church service.

Finally

If we have forsaken the meeting together with God on a personal level, we also have forsaken the meeting together as a congregation.

 
I we have forsaken the meeting together as a family/household with God, we also have forsaken the meeting together as a congregation.

 
Simply said, just because a church worship service has been cancelled does not mean your worship has to be cancelled.