I distinctly recall one school assembly bible reading because of the contradiction between its central advice and what we, as a group, gathered together in a place were doing: it said adherents to Christianity should sequester themselves in a private place, in order to worship.
I took from that the idea that church gatherings were a way to put yourself on display. Not merely to worship but to *be seen to worship* and to be faithful.
It would seem incongruous for a nation of just a single faith to have to bother with making a show of following the 'correct' faith but, if early Christians ever followed Jesus' advice to worship in the privacy of the home, I guess they soon had to abandon that because multiculturalism (Roman era) meant competition from other religions and conducting rituals in a group combats feelings of isolation and vulnerability doing it at home, feeling surrounded by 'the others'.
I am wondering if that is at the heart of the papal abhorrence with "personal Jesuses"?
(In other threads it has been observed that the church set itself up as the middleman, between you and God. Their fees have certainly bought them a lot of shiny things, over the years, not to mention the rest of their portfolio).