Saturday, August 07, 2004
Church Service
The church service started promptly at 10 o'clock am and he was trying to get there on time in order to prove his devotion to God. The drive this morning was cluttered with traffic that was taking precious chunks of time away from his arrival that would verify his dedication to the congregational expectation that God shows up on time--and so should you.
As he waited for the light to turn green at an intersection hustling with hurting people who were not up to the "norm" of social doings, his impatience began to eat away at him as he harbored angry thoughts of how these wandering misfits were only hindering him from meeting his weekly Christian duty to the Lord.
All of a sudden, one of the misplaced souls hanging around the roadside approached his driver's window and asked him if he could spare a dollar or two for something to eat. The spirit within the pedestrian of life groaned in front of the now-frustrated driver as he further elaborated on how he hadn't eaten in two days and just needed a little help to sustain him for a little further of his own drive down the roadway of living.
'Can't you see that I'm in a hurry right now and wanting to meet my Lord and Savior on this late-running Sunday morning?" he told the desperate stranger. " God expects me to be on time to worship in His name and I have no time at this moment to assist you in your plight. God calls me to meet Him with all proper respect and timeliness in His meeting place, so I'll have to give you a rain-check on your request. "
The hungry man, used to hundreds of rejections in life, muttered the words, "I understand. Thanks anyway! The Lord be with you," and then he sat down on the curb with his broken spirit and tattered pride left over from all of the unfortunate incidents that had turned his life into one of helpessness for the moment.
As the light turned green, the motorist revved up his engine a bit more than usual and sped down the road knowing that he was only moment's away from the church front steps. Hurriedly, he weaved his way through the traffic menagerie until he hastily parked his car in the church parking lot and quickly shuffled his way into the Lord's house in just enough time to grab his favorite pew seat and get nestled in for his dose of the uplifting of the Lord.
He had made it with only seconds to spare before the service began right on time. He didn't want to miss any little bit of the pastor's sermon this week which had been announced in the church bulletin earlier.
The first song sung was "What a friend we have in Jesus." He especially liked the part of the song that spoke of "...all our sins and grief to bear." He thanked God that he had made it to the service on time and caused no grief to the protocol of the worship structure by walking in late and disrupting those who had their minds and hearts set to focus in on meeting their Lord and Savior for a few minutes.
The second song sung was " How firm a foundation" and as he sang, he reflected upon how settled in he was with Jesus because he had made it on time this morning as he always had each and every Sunday morning. He gave God the glory for guiding him to be here in His presence, although the outside world had almost created a black mark in his attendence record and timely fashion of showing up to meet Jesus on schedule.
After the song, the morning prayer focused in on how God smiles upon those who come to Him with a grateful heart and how he blesses those who have come to worship Him in this building today.
The pastor began his sermon on the Good Samaritan after the prayer was finished with all of the usual addendums of "Amen's " coming from the crowd of saints gathered together.The man listened intently as he heard the message of how we are to help those in need and how sometimes we have to go out of our way to accomplish this deed of Christian virtue. He agreed totally with the lesson taught.
He knew in his heart that he would help anyone at any time as long as it wasn't between 10 AM and Noon on Sunday mornings. He wouldn't want the Lord to be upset by his missing the assembly of the saints at the given time-slot.
Meanwhile, up in the third heaven, there was movement stirring as the angels designated a representative to aid the broken man still sitting on the curb at the busy intersection a few moment's away from the house of God.The spiritual representative was an angel in disguise--another misfit who happened to come across the hungry, broken-in-spirit man. He had a bit of extra food sustenance on hand and shared it with simple grace and nothing expected in return.
Back at the church, the final strains of "Amazing Grace" musically spread out over the congregation as they lent their voices in union towards the wrap-up of the worship service.
The third heaven angels looked down on the city and made note of the struggle between Grace and Law.The Good Samaritan out on the street wandered back into the crossroads of misfortune's intersection while the church participants resounded a final "Amen" before leaving the building to carry on with their lives.
Before the man could get back into his car to drive home to watch his favorite football team on TV, the Good Samaritan misfit had already added two more good deeds to his morning.
One showed Function over Form. The other showed Form over Function. One showed Grace. The other showed Law. One fed the hungry. The other fed his ego. One drove home the point of helping those in need. The other just drove home.
One lived in service to those in need although he was also needy in some ways. The other left the service and made mental note to leave earlier the next Sunday in order to further fulfill his obligation to the Lord. One went to church. The other was the Church.
Because of the substance and comprehensiveness of grace, God still loved them both. Just as He loved the seven churches of Asia and made note of their strengths and weaknesses through a Patmos writing.
Grace is much more vast than Law ever could know. Any Philadelphian in a crowd of strangers could tell you that. Even more than that, they might even show it without notice and coming from out of nowhere.
The 10 AM to Noon time-slot on Sunday morning wouldn't even stop them from spreading some of it around.
As he waited for the light to turn green at an intersection hustling with hurting people who were not up to the "norm" of social doings, his impatience began to eat away at him as he harbored angry thoughts of how these wandering misfits were only hindering him from meeting his weekly Christian duty to the Lord.
All of a sudden, one of the misplaced souls hanging around the roadside approached his driver's window and asked him if he could spare a dollar or two for something to eat. The spirit within the pedestrian of life groaned in front of the now-frustrated driver as he further elaborated on how he hadn't eaten in two days and just needed a little help to sustain him for a little further of his own drive down the roadway of living.
'Can't you see that I'm in a hurry right now and wanting to meet my Lord and Savior on this late-running Sunday morning?" he told the desperate stranger. " God expects me to be on time to worship in His name and I have no time at this moment to assist you in your plight. God calls me to meet Him with all proper respect and timeliness in His meeting place, so I'll have to give you a rain-check on your request. "
The hungry man, used to hundreds of rejections in life, muttered the words, "I understand. Thanks anyway! The Lord be with you," and then he sat down on the curb with his broken spirit and tattered pride left over from all of the unfortunate incidents that had turned his life into one of helpessness for the moment.
As the light turned green, the motorist revved up his engine a bit more than usual and sped down the road knowing that he was only moment's away from the church front steps. Hurriedly, he weaved his way through the traffic menagerie until he hastily parked his car in the church parking lot and quickly shuffled his way into the Lord's house in just enough time to grab his favorite pew seat and get nestled in for his dose of the uplifting of the Lord.
He had made it with only seconds to spare before the service began right on time. He didn't want to miss any little bit of the pastor's sermon this week which had been announced in the church bulletin earlier.
The first song sung was "What a friend we have in Jesus." He especially liked the part of the song that spoke of "...all our sins and grief to bear." He thanked God that he had made it to the service on time and caused no grief to the protocol of the worship structure by walking in late and disrupting those who had their minds and hearts set to focus in on meeting their Lord and Savior for a few minutes.
The second song sung was " How firm a foundation" and as he sang, he reflected upon how settled in he was with Jesus because he had made it on time this morning as he always had each and every Sunday morning. He gave God the glory for guiding him to be here in His presence, although the outside world had almost created a black mark in his attendence record and timely fashion of showing up to meet Jesus on schedule.
After the song, the morning prayer focused in on how God smiles upon those who come to Him with a grateful heart and how he blesses those who have come to worship Him in this building today.
The pastor began his sermon on the Good Samaritan after the prayer was finished with all of the usual addendums of "Amen's " coming from the crowd of saints gathered together.The man listened intently as he heard the message of how we are to help those in need and how sometimes we have to go out of our way to accomplish this deed of Christian virtue. He agreed totally with the lesson taught.
He knew in his heart that he would help anyone at any time as long as it wasn't between 10 AM and Noon on Sunday mornings. He wouldn't want the Lord to be upset by his missing the assembly of the saints at the given time-slot.
Meanwhile, up in the third heaven, there was movement stirring as the angels designated a representative to aid the broken man still sitting on the curb at the busy intersection a few moment's away from the house of God.The spiritual representative was an angel in disguise--another misfit who happened to come across the hungry, broken-in-spirit man. He had a bit of extra food sustenance on hand and shared it with simple grace and nothing expected in return.
Back at the church, the final strains of "Amazing Grace" musically spread out over the congregation as they lent their voices in union towards the wrap-up of the worship service.
The third heaven angels looked down on the city and made note of the struggle between Grace and Law.The Good Samaritan out on the street wandered back into the crossroads of misfortune's intersection while the church participants resounded a final "Amen" before leaving the building to carry on with their lives.
Before the man could get back into his car to drive home to watch his favorite football team on TV, the Good Samaritan misfit had already added two more good deeds to his morning.
One showed Function over Form. The other showed Form over Function. One showed Grace. The other showed Law. One fed the hungry. The other fed his ego. One drove home the point of helping those in need. The other just drove home.
One lived in service to those in need although he was also needy in some ways. The other left the service and made mental note to leave earlier the next Sunday in order to further fulfill his obligation to the Lord. One went to church. The other was the Church.
Because of the substance and comprehensiveness of grace, God still loved them both. Just as He loved the seven churches of Asia and made note of their strengths and weaknesses through a Patmos writing.
Grace is much more vast than Law ever could know. Any Philadelphian in a crowd of strangers could tell you that. Even more than that, they might even show it without notice and coming from out of nowhere.
The 10 AM to Noon time-slot on Sunday morning wouldn't even stop them from spreading some of it around.
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What a great story, Larry Joe! I am so familiar with the push to be on time for meetings, as though we might "miss God" if we were late. "Well, I waited five minutes, and they didn't show up, so I'm going back to my throne in heaven. Maybe they'll be on time next week." Being somewhat time obsessed myself, it was so easy to fall into the very same trap as your church-goer and whip my family into a frenzy to make sure we weren't pointed out as the sinful ones for being late.
It's amazing how we can read the Bible and still think God cares more about religious duties than compassion, yet I was one of those who did, even though it bothered me enough that I knew inside it was really stupid. Long before we stopped attending religious meetings, God began convicting me about those priorities. I still tend to time-obsession, but God is helping me. Thank God for His grace!
It's amazing how we can read the Bible and still think God cares more about religious duties than compassion, yet I was one of those who did, even though it bothered me enough that I knew inside it was really stupid. Long before we stopped attending religious meetings, God began convicting me about those priorities. I still tend to time-obsession, but God is helping me. Thank God for His grace!
Matthew: Thanks for your comments here. I, too, went through the same "ritual" of making sure timely arrival to the service was more of a priority than anything that might have come along between leaving home and getting to "Worship Hour."
As a young man, I wanted to be a doctor. I had an elder tell me that if a person was injured badly in an accident on a Sunday morning and I was the only one who could save his life, but that it would be at the expense of my missing the church service that morning, then I would be neglecting God.
Meanwhile, my Bible studies were telling me that this elder's interpretation of the scenario was a misplaced priority in God's way of looking at it.
As a young man who grew up in this church system, it really left me in a spiritual quandery for a long time.
As a young man, I wanted to be a doctor. I had an elder tell me that if a person was injured badly in an accident on a Sunday morning and I was the only one who could save his life, but that it would be at the expense of my missing the church service that morning, then I would be neglecting God.
Meanwhile, my Bible studies were telling me that this elder's interpretation of the scenario was a misplaced priority in God's way of looking at it.
As a young man who grew up in this church system, it really left me in a spiritual quandery for a long time.
Enjoyed the article. My wife is sleeping upstairs on what used to be the most hectic and least looked forward to morning of the week. We've had several incredible times with Christian friends this week and probably will again today. Meanwhile, we've also had opportunities to serve in "non Christian" places during the week, and those may turn into opportunities to speak of his goodness. Who knows. Sleep away, my wife, for life has become worth the living. No expectations for holy behavior, just living the in wholenes of him. Ah, to rest. -Tom-
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: August 15, 2004 5:01 AM
: August 15, 2004 5:01 AM << Home
