Sunday, December 31, 2006

If I could title this past Sunday's services, it would be The Tale of Two Services. Allow me to explain...

The first service was a good crowd and the music was good, but there seemed to be a holding back from engaging, as the congregation seemed largely unresponsive. I don't know why this was, but I recognized that as I would ask questions that there wasn't much response and that the words I was saying seemed to just fall flat. I know this might sound judgmental, and it is certainly not meant to be, and I know that there were several people who were with me. But overall, I felt myself getting frustrated that the receptiveness didn't seem to be there.

As a matter of fact, I said something at the end of the service that I would like to correct, as I am sure it did not come across like I wanted it to. I talked about the fact that there are people who don't attend church with us on Sundays and yet will call me during the week to get counsel. I said that rather than call me, they should come to church, where so many answers can be found in the spoken word. And that's all fine, but I almost made it sound like, "If you don't come to church, don't call me." That's not what I meant. I just meant to say that so much counseling can be done from the pulpit, and furthermore, there is such healing in relationships with others...

And then there was the 2nd service, in which we had wonderful worship and there was a flow to the word. I don't know what the exact difference was, except that there was a spirit of receptiveness and openness to what was happening, and God really worked in the word and in the worship.

Regardless of which service you were in, I invite you every week to just be ready for and be looking to encounter God at The Journey - prepare yourself before you come, and just seek out God with all your heart every time you are here. God wants to be sought, and He has made Himself accessible. May we experience GOD and the power of His Spirit every week without fail in 2007!

I spoke today from Ephesians 4:1-13 on "A Community Effort in the New Year," and focusing on our unity as a congregation. We had 117...