From Jorge de Campos, 5/22/2024:

I would like to inform you that the Council has been working on a paper to answer the question, “What does God expect from us when we appear before Him?” and is entitled “Keeping a Holy Convocation”.

This paper is the outcome of over a year of careful work and input from many elders. This paper received Council approval to be published during our most recent Council meetings earlier this month.

The paper may be viewed at UCG’s web site under Resources/Study papers: (https://www.ucg.org/study-papers). [A copy is attached to this email and there are copies on the back bulletin board.]

The concluding two paragraphs of the paper read as follows: “At Sabbath and Holy Day services, we need to keep in mind that during a holy convocation two principal things are occurring. First, God is teaching His people through the inspired messages spoken by His servants, and second, His people are praising Him in their attentive listening, by singing hymns to His glory and honor, and with their unity in prayer. This is what God expects of His sacred assemblies that He commands of His Church on His Sabbaths and annual Holy Days. “When we respond accordingly to God’s command to appear before Him, learn to honor the decorum of being in His presence, and take an active part in rehearsing His plan and our part in it, we fellowship with Him and each other in a way we could not otherwise.”

May I kindly request that respectfully we all meditate and prayerfully consider our ways. We desire to be pleasing God when we appear before Him at His Holy Convocation which in our practice is from the opening hymns till the closing prayer.