Our Pastor
The Reverend J. Howard Cepelak

The Reverend J. Howard Cepelak is a native of Woodbury, Connecticut. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and a Master of Divinity degree from Andover Newton Theological School in Newton Centre, Massachusetts. He did graduate work at Westminster/Cheshunt College and The Faculty of Divinity at Cambridge University, Cambridge, England. He was formerly Associate Pastor of Grace Congregational Church in Framingham, Massachusetts, and Senior Pastor at Pawtucket Congregational Church in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

April 2008 
Message from the Pastor

Pastor Howard's Sermons
Archived Pastor's Page
Download the Sermon (9.7MB) from Jan 14, 2007

Where did we ever get the idea that...

it's Ok NOT to worship every Sunday? Where did we ever get the idea that it's NOT a sin to miss church? Where did we ever get the idea that we can worship God by doing something else on Sunday rather than attending church? Do we really believe that we can worship God faithfully on the golf course, at the beach, working in the garden or on a home maintenance project, or by sleeping in, reading the paper, going out to brunch with family or friends, or by performing a good deed such as participating in a walk against hunger or cancer or whatever? (It's interesting that all of these walks are scheduled for Sunday mornings rather than for Saturday or some other day of the week. Participating in such an event may be a good deed, but it's not worship.)

Where did we ever get the idea that we can be good Christians without regular and faithful worship? I can only guess that this comes from a culture that fails to value God and His commands, that places what we want over and above what God wants and further believes that God exists to somehow make us happy, fulfill our wants and needs and satisfy us by giving us what we want when we want it.

True worship always means sacrifice, a word most certainly not popular in our culture. The center of true Christian worship is the saving sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. In response to His saving sacrifice and out of gratitude for it, He calls us to sacrifice a small amount of our time (as if time belongs to us and not to Him) and give to Him our exclusive attention during that time. This is the only thing that we can give Him. Within that gift, we give Him our hearts, minds, bodies and souls. But we must take time to do it. We must pay attention to Him. Hence, St. Paul writes of our living sacrifice, our sacrifice of praise, and our sacrifice of thanksgiving ; all a part of our sacrifice offered in worship.

We can make a thousand excuses for not attending church. But they're all just that - excuses. A disclaimer. One should not attend a faithless church except for the purpose of calling that congregation to faithfulness. But otherwise, faithful worship in a faithful congregation makes for a faithful person. We are saved by God's grace through our faith. If we do not have good faith, God's grace has no means to operate in our souls. Yes. It's a sin not to attend every Sunday. Where did we ever get the idea that it's not?

Onward and upward in faith,
JHC