Let's Have Church

Our Homecoming service is over for another year, and if I say so myself, it was one of our best services this year. You all have said the same thing, just in different words. The number one comment I've received since the closing prayer on Sunday has been, "We had church!" I agree with you wholeheartedly -- but that tells me a few things about a few things.

First, it tells me you know what it is to truly worship. Psalm 100:4 says, "Enter His gates with Thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name." You know how to do that. You know how to have joyful singing and Spirit-filled worship. Even on a day when we change the bulletin on the fly to accommodate the band and my microphone dies, you still worship God and feel His presence.

Second, that tells me we don't experience this every week. It could be the music, the preaching, the general atmosphere, or something entirely other, but something prevents us from "having church" every time we come to the house of God. You're able to tell a difference from an average Sunday and one when you genuinely know God is among us. That concerns me. If we, on a normal Sunday, can't feel the Spirit of God in an active way, something has to change -- else there's no point in being here.

You have voted for changes to help make that happen, and they will come. Speaking from experience, however, I know that a sizable segment of you want no change whatsoever. You remain content to watch the church wither on the vine and grow suspicious when we say we had a great Sunday in the presence of the Holy Spirit if it happens to have been a day we've done something differently. Let me speak to that crowd for a brief moment, and I make no apologies for what I'm about to say: you're part of the problem if you let your personal preferences be more important than honestly and openly experiencing God in a church service. I invite you to be part of the solution. Let's work together to do what it takes to have church every Sunday.