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Welcome to the Gospel Coalition Podcast, equipping the next generation of believers,

pastors, and church leaders to shape life and ministry around the gospel.

Today you'll hear a message from Matt Mercker on why you should attend church every week.

This talk was originally delivered at TGC's 2021 National Conference.

Dinner time is a big deal in my family. It's the main time each day when we pause from all

the stuff we're doing, all the work, and all the chores, and all the ballet practice, and

playing with Thomas the Tank engine, and all these sorts of things, and we set our attention

on one another. On the surface, the meal that we enjoy probably looks very similar to the one

that's enjoyed by millions of Americans around the same time each day, and yet if you were

coming to the earth from outer space, let's imagine you're a Martian anthropologist coming to study

human beings, and you were to study my family in particular, well then you would probably want to

note down the distinctive ways in which our Merckerness shapes our life around the table.

You would see what makes us different from other American families. You would notice

perhaps that we're believers in Christ, so we pray before we eat. We thank God for the food.

You'd notice that my wife is Italian-American, so that flavors the menu. You know, you want to talk

about lasagna. My wife is the best, no doubt, no competition. You'd notice all that the inside jokes,

the various family traditions, what makes us unique. Who we are as a family shapes what we do when

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