what service will you attend?

I remember leading communion as a youth pastor in Camdenton, Missouri. We had 2 services to break the bread. The first service, I took the loaf, broke it in half, telling the congregation that this was the body of Christ broken for them. The 2nd service I went to reenact the breaking of the same loaf, and the kids decided that it might be fun to fill the already broken loaf with jelly beans. So you can imagine what happened when I went to break bread. This is the body of Christ .....bouncing jellybeans across the alter for you. Let's just say, I was not filled with laughter at this moment ---but I do remember it quite clearly.

So which service do you attend?

We have 5 of them now at our church on Sunday morning.....soon to be six when the Beacon launches a Saturday night service August 21st. Do you like contemporary, traditional, blended, organic or cutting-edge? Do you like the preacher to tell great stories or quote from the scriptures? Do you like the worship leader to energetically lead the choir or band, or do you prefer a more contemplative worship? And how about the visuals ---lots of flowers, motion backgrounds, or not? What about the sound levels and the lights? Should we pass the offering plates or just put boxes in the back of sanctuary? And communion, how often, real bread or wafers?

Sometimes I feel that we approach selecting a church or a service to attend the same way we might order off of a menu (a nice hymn, with a touch of scripture, a great prayer, and an inspiring sermon --to go please) But what if our approach was different? What if we asked how will our service to the Lord be worship? What will we do, what will we give, how will we show this day that we love the Lord? Let's make our worship --to serve. To rob a quote from JFK: let's ask not what our church can do for us, but what we can do for the church.

So here it is . . . .just showing up on Sunday morning is not enough . . . .I said it.

And it hurts.

Because I spend a lot of my work preparing for Sunday mornings. Bill Hybels, leader of the Willow Creek Church, likes to say that the local church is the "hope of the nations." And why shouldn't it be, after all we are "the body" of Christ. And we should be bouncing more of our lives across the alter, spilling out into the streets and cities where we live, speaking into the broken lives of our neighbors, friends, and our families.

If you attend Woods Chapel, you are a missionary. We make sure that you know that being a part of our church involves giving yourself away. If you haven't figured out what that means yet for your life, talk to someone on staff at our church. We have lots of opportunities for you to serve the poor, the orphans, the aliens, those in prison, the widows.

Jesus asked Peter 3 times, "Do you love me? --then feed my sheep." What was it that Jesus told his disciples when the 4000 people needed to be fed? "You feed them."

Rise up Church --we are Christ's plan A and there is no plan B (check out the book Radical by David Platt subtitled, "Taking back our faith from the American Dream," this theme is all over this book) ---let's get to work!

Holy Spirit rise up among our people and let us lay down our lives for YOU.

AMEN

the levite (thanks for letting me sound off this week --Jeff will be back tomorrow)